19.04.13
NHS England to appeal against child heart surgery decision
NHS England has confirmed it is to appeal against the High Court ruling quashing the Safe & Sustainable review, which it took over responsibility for at the beginning of April.
Save our Surgery, the campaign to keep children’s heart surgery in Leeds, said it is a waste of time and NHS money.
The NHS England statement said: “There is broad consensus – among both clinicians and patient groups – that the NHS needs to concentrate the care of children needing these services into fewer, larger specialist centres, as an integral part of children’s heart networks.
“NHS England believes that we must deliver this change as quickly as possible on behalf of children and their families. We now have an opportunity to take stock and assess the best way of achieving our objective in the fastest possible time.
“To do this, we need to take account of all the available information, including the recent High Court ruling of 27 March and the report on the issues that is due to be published by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel. We have been advised that there are good grounds for appeal and these points are set out in an application that has been submitted to the Court of Appeal.”
But Sharon Cheng of Save our Surgery said: “The decision to appeal only underlines, once again, NHS England’s willingness to spend money on lawyers’ fees that should be used for patient care.
“Pursuing this appeal serves no benefit to patients. Instead it is about protecting reputations and trying to salvage what is a flawed and thoroughly discredited process. We secured a strong and conclusive judgment in the High Court and the final decision regarding the future of children’s heart surgery services should now lie with the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) and the Health Secretary.
“The judge’s verdict along with the events of the last few weeks have shown clearly that the Safe & Sustainable review was not driven by sound clinical judgment or patients’ interests. Instead it has been driven by vested interests and bias against Leeds.”
(Image: Seth Anderson used here under a Creative Commons licence)
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