Judge rules that decision to close three children’s heart units was unfair

Campaigners fighting the decision to close the children’s heart surgery unit in Leeds as part of an exercise to concentrate operations in fewer but larger centres have scored a comprehensive victory at the High Court in London.

Mrs Justice Nicola Davies ruled that the “Safe and Sustainable” consultation that recommended closing three units was flawed by procedural unfairness and a failure to take into account material considerations.

The success for the campaigning group, Save our Surgery Limited, on both grounds of its challenge is a significant setback for the plans to concentrate surgery at only seven sites: Bristol, Birmingham, Southampton, Liverpool, Newcastle, and two in London. Units in Leeds and Leicester and at London’s …