Martin is delighted that the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has suspended a review which originally proposed the closure of Leeds Children’s Heart Unit.
In a statement made today in the House of Commons, Mr Hunt agreed that the Safe and Sustainable Review was flawed but said a “case for change remains.” NHS England will report back no later than the end of July on how they intend to proceed with the review.
Martin said ‘“It's quite clear that families whose members have benefited from treatment at the unit regard it as a centre of excellence and do not want to see it lost for another many miles away.”
“I was pleased to go along to Downing St and support the hard work of those who organised the petition. MPs from all parties have been working together on this and I will continue to do all I can to support the campaign.”
Martin will keep up the fight to prevent the closure of the heart unit, which has been vital for many of his constituents. Indeed, Martin even sought personal assurances from the Health Secretary that the people of Cleethorpes, Immingham and Barton would be able to take part in the consultation process.
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Martin Vickers: My Cleethorpes constituency is on the very edge of the area served by the Leeds unit, and I particularly welcome the acknowledgement that future investigations will consider geography, but as well as feeling isolated geographically, many of my constituents felt somewhat isolated from the whole process. We do not want to prolong the process unnecessarily, but will the Secretary of State assure me that there will be some mechanism allowing input from individual constituents?
Mr Hunt: I can absolutely give that assurance. The fact that the engagement with the public in this process was not as genuine as it should have been is one of the biggest lessons for the NHS to learn.