NHS chiefs are set to close child heart unit

Burbage charity vows to carry on with good work

CHILDREN’S heart surgery looks set to cease at Leicester’s Glenfield Hospital, home of Burbage based charity Keep The Beat.

The decision to no longer use its services was announced by NHS England.

It follows a major, long-running review of care for infants with heart problems which initially threatened the unit with closure in 2012.

This decision was reversed last July with the centre getting a reprieve dependent on changes to bring all children’s care onto one site.

At the time University Hospitals of Leicester bosses said the East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre (EMCHC) would move to the Leicester Royal Infirmary and plans are in the pipeline.

However, NHS England has said this will now not happen and it intends to cease commissioning children’s heart surgery in the East Midlands.

The move has been met with criticism by both hospital chiefs, charity stalwarts and county council representatives.

It was discussed as a matter of urgency at the health and wellbeing board at County Hall on Thursday and at the council’s cabinet, at 2pm on Monday July 18.

Annita Tansey, who along with husband Adam, set up Keep The Beat following their son Albert’s life-saving care at the unit, said she was shocked at the decision.

The charity recently raised £46,000 through a 300 mile cycling challenge to support EMCHC.

John Adler, chief executive at Leicester’s Hospitals, said they had expanded bed numbers, improved outcomes, invested in staffing, created a new adolescent unit and briefed architects to create a new single site.

And that was all against a background of uncertainty surrounding the future.

He added clinical outcomes for patients were among the best in the country, cancellation rates were better than the national average and patient and family satisfaction rates had increased to 99%.

The unit is only one of a handful which has an extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) service, providing 50% of all capacity nationally and unique in providing a national transport system.

This works in a similar way to a heart-lung bypass machine used for open heart surgery and provides oxygen to the patient through an external pump.

Mr Adler warned any de-commissioning of the unit would compromise this service, throwing away decades of experience, knowledge and innovation.

Paediatric intensive care services located at Leicester Royal Infirmary, which are supported by the EMCHC, would also be under threat, with their viability seriously compromised.

Mr Adler said: “Over the last 18 months we have made excellent progress, with the support of our charities and partner organisations, to meet the standards set by NHS England through the New Congenital Heart Disease Review.

“We are confident that our clinical outcomes are now amongst the best in the country so we strongly disagree with NHS England’s decision and will not sit by while they destroy our fabulous service.”

Reacting to the news Ernie White, chair of Leicestershire’s health and wellbeing board and cabinet member for health, said: “This is the wrong decision, for the children and families who need these services. Glenfield’s unit provides an excellent service and has united support from the local community, politicians and NHS officials. Closing the unit is not justified at all. The work the trust has been doing has been exactly in line with what the NHS required.

“I will be urgently seeking further information so I can fully understand the implications, on Glenfield and the wider NHS.

“We cannot afford to lose such a valued unit.”