Leeds Kids Heart Unit Review

22 October 2012, 18:48 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

The Health Secretary has ordered a review into a controversial decision to close three children's heart surgery units, including one in Leeds.

Jeremy Hunt wants a review into the decision to close the units at Leeds General Infirmary, Glenfield Hospital in Leicester and the Royal Brompton in Chelsea in west London.

It is to see if the decision will really save money.

Earlier this month a campaign group which is fighting to keep the Leeds unit open launched legal proceedings against NHS officials who made the decision.

Save Our Surgery (SOS) said it has filed for permission for a judicial review against the decision made by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) to close the unit. If the judicial review goes ahead, the IRP review will be put on hold.

In July it was announced that the hospitals would stop performing the specialist surgery in a move to streamline paediatric congenital cardiac surgery services.