A children’s heart surgery centre that was temporarily closed last year due to fears over mortality rates is safe according to a comprehensive review of its services.

And the news about the unit at Leeds General Infirmary was welcomed by a Huddersfield mum who backed a campaign fighting for its future.

Gaynor Bearder, who has seen her son Joel undergo extensive treatment at the unit, said: “It’s wonderful news. We always said when they shut unit down over supposed fears that it was a stitch-up.

“It is worth all the effort we put in to save the unit and I would have no qualms about sending Joel there again”

But the report into paediatric cardiology at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) outlined the experiences of 16 families who complained of poor care at the unit, prompting apologies from both NHS England and the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital.

One mother described how she felt pressurised into having an abortion, which was against her Muslim beliefs. Others complained about a lack of compassion following the death of their child.

NHS England said in its overview of the report: “We conclude that these families did not get the level of care or service that they deserved and for this we are truly sorry.”

Leeds General Infirmary
Leeds General Infirmary

Operations at the LGI unit were suspended for more than a week last year after NHS England raised concerns about data on death rates at the centre.

The move provoked huge anger and debate, especially as parents and clinicians from the unit linked it to the ongoing controversy about which children’s heart surgery units were to be closed as part of a nationwide rationalisation of the service.

Surgery resumed on April 10 last year and NHS England announced it was implementing the full review that reported.

The report was in two parts. The first was a statistical analysis of mortality rates, focussing on the 35 children who died following surgery at the unit from 2009 to March last year.

This review concluded: “Within the context and remit of this review, the team found that the clinical management of the cases examined demonstrated medical and surgical care to be in line with standard practice.”

But a second part of the report examined the experiences of 16 families who felt they had been let down by the unit, prompting six to have their child’s treatment transferred to another centre.

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