Intended for healthcare professionals

News

NHS medical director defends his decision to pause paediatric heart surgery at Leeds

BMJ 2013; 346 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f2245 (Published 09 April 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f2245
  1. Clare Dyer
  1. 1BMJ

Leeds General Infirmary is to resume children’s heart surgery from 10 April, after a review team called in to investigate concerns about death rates and staffing levels pronounced it safe.

The surgery, which was stopped on 28 March after a visit from NHS England medical director Bruce Keogh, will restart gradually, beginning with low risk operations, while the review continues to explore other issues about the unit.

The first stage of the review by a multidisciplinary clinical team found that Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s data for monitoring surgical results were “uniquely poor, triggering concerns about death rates and gaps in information,” NHS England said. It would be asking for “significant improvement to the way the unit monitors the quality …

View Full Text

Log in

Log in through your institution

Subscribe

* For online subscription