Radcliffe should stop doing children’s heart surgery, review recommends

An NHS review of children’s congenital heart services in England has made an interim recommendation that cardiac surgery should no longer be carried out at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The recommendation was made after a meeting on Friday 14 October of the steering group of the NHS safe and sustainable review team, which is considering how to deliver high quality children’s congenital cardiac services. It is chaired by Patricia Hamilton, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

The team had considered an independent assessment led by Ian Kennedy, emeritus professor of health law at University College London, of all 11 hospitals in England that provide children’s heart surgery services. …