Vox Pop: Will child heart surgery unit closures put children at risk?

YES
Sharon Cheng, director, Save Our Surgery

We believe it will. We understand the rationale for concentrating surgical expertise into fewer centres. But critical considerations have been overlooked by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) in deciding which units to close, sparking the concerns that led to our High Court case last week.

Congenital heart disease has increased by half in the last decade due to children living longer and requiring surgery into adulthood, not to mention rapid population growth. The JCPCT’s proposed solution leaves a large area between London and Newcastle with no children’s heart surgery unit.

These factors require a different set of criteria in deciding where and how children’s heart surgery services are provided. We must structure children’s heart surgery services according to today’s realities, not those of 10 years ago.


NO
Sir Neil McKay, chair, Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts

The NHS needs to improve the way we care for children with congenital heart disease so that more lives are saved and fewer children experience life-changing complications such as severe brain damage.

The UK’s medical royal colleges, professional associations and charities all agree that the best way to do this is to pool surgical expertise into fewer, larger centres and expand local ongoing care for children with congenital heart disease and their families. Pooling surgical teams will help clinicians maintain and improve their skills, enable hospitals to provide 24/7 cover and develop new life-saving techniques for the future.

Put simply, we want the NHS to be providing world-class care for children with this complex condition – mediocrity must not be the benchmark.


NO
Anne Keatley-Clarke, chief executive, Children’s Heart Federation

The reorganisation plan will make the surgical care of children much safer by having a larger group of surgeons in fewer units.

At the moment, surgeons are spread too thinly. In one centre, where there are just two to three surgeons, they are carrying out complex surgery – both elective and emergency – over seven to eight hours. This is leaving them exhausted, but we are relying on their goodwill to come in and do it all again at short notice. It would be much better to have a larger group of surgeons who can manage their time better.

When we surveyed parents, 80 per cent said they would be willing to travel further for heart surgery. What they wanted locally, though, was ongoing cardiology care.


NO
Suzie Hutchinson, chief executive, Little Hearts Matter

Children with the most complex of all congenital hearts travel vast distances safely every day to secure surgery because many local cardiac units are unable to offer them expert care. Fewer, larger units will ensure that every regional surgical team has the skill and experience of treating the most complex hearts. If they can treat the complex well, they can offer a world-class service to every child.

The future of congenital cardiac care relies on a strong cardiology service with a network of doctors taking their expertise closer to where patients live so that children only have to travel further distances for operations. The reconfiguration of congenital heart services is the only way to offer a safer service to every child.