Calls for resignation over Leeds child surgery suspension

Greg Mulholland MP, MP for Leeds North West, said he was “stunned and appalled” by the suspension and called for Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS medical director who intervened over Leeds, to resign.

He said he had raised the issue with the secretary of state, and said: “This is about the conduict of senor NHS officials who have closed a surgical unit when there is no reliable evidence to do so.”

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said the temporary measure was being taken to allow an internal review to be conducted following consultation with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

It apologised to the families affected but failed to offer any further details about if and when patients scheduled to have surgery would receive treatment.

Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of NHS England, said there was a “constellation” of reasons behind the suspension as checks are made to ensure the unit is operating safely.

He added that there were “rumblings” among the cardiac surgical community for some time that “all was not well” in Leeds.

‘Questions have been raised’

Sir Bruce said: “The trust has taken a highly responsible precautionary step. Some questions have been raised by the trust’s own mortality data and by other information.

“It is important to understand that while this information raises questions, it does not give us answers.

A vigorous campaign has been waged to save children’s heart surgery at the LGI after the unit was earmarked for closure as part of an NHS plan to reorganise services across England into fewer, more specialised centres.

Leeds campaigners celebrated on Wednesday when a high court judge quashed part of the NHS consultation process which led to the re-organisation, effectively halting the plan.

Sharon Cheng from Save Our Surgery, the group co-ordinating the fight to keep children’s heart surgery in Leeds, said: “We’re mystified. We don’t know of anything that could justify this step.”

The Children’s Heart Federation said it was “deeply saddened” by the decision. “But it is absolutely right not to take any risks while these matters are being looked into.”