Hunt orders heart units move review
The Health Secretary has ordered a review into a controversial decision to close three children's heart surgery units.
Jeremy Hunt has asked the Independent Reconfiguration Panel to carry out 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.
The panel will decide by February whether it believes the recommendations to close the units will streamline paediatric heart services.
The review comes after councillors in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire contacted Mr Hunt with concerns about the closure of the unit at Glenfield.
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.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "The Secretary of State has asked the Independent Reconfiguration Panel to conduct a full review of the Safe and Sustainable review of Children's Congenital Heart Services."
