More than 1,000 patients, doctors and campaigners will tomorrow call on NHS chiefs to scrap plans to axe congenital heart surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
A protest march down King’s Road in Chelsea will be waved off by former Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd, who is a heart patient at the Brompton.
It comes amid growing controversy at the proposals, which would affect an estimated 14,000 child and adult patients at the UK’s biggest specialist heart and lung hospital.
NHS England bosses have admitted there is no “robust clinical evidence” for a key reason behind the reconfiguration — and they have no idea what will happen to patients with cystic fibrosis and severe asthma if the Brompton’s paediatric respiratory services also have to close.
Baroness Boothroyd, 87, said: “I have been a patient at Royal Brompton for many years and have had the most superb care and treatment.”
She added: “Why is so much money and energy being spent on a proposal to close the largest and best-resourced congenital heart disease team in the country? This reckless idea must be stopped.”
The Brompton is among several hospitals under threat as NHS England seeks to implement new national standards, including the requirement for other paediatric services to be co-located. The Brompton relies on medics from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to arrive within 30 minutes.
There is concern that linked services at the Brompton, such as its paediatric intensive care unit and world-leading research, would also be destroyed.
A cross-party group of 20 MPs this week called on Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to halt the plans. The case for change — which is out to consultation until June 5 — began to unravel when NHS England chiefs faced questions at public meetings this month.
Professor Huon Gray, national clinical director for heart disease, admitted there was no evidence that co-locating paediatric services would lead to better outcomes for patients.
His colleague Will Huxter, regional director of specialised commissioning, was asked what would happen to the UK’s largest paediatric respiratory clinic. He said: “We cannot at this stage say what the plan would be around re-provision, because that is not a piece of work we have done in detail.”
NHS England declined to comment on the protest or the case for change but said it hoped people would continue to make their views known during the consultation.
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