The Save Our Surgery (SOS) group yesterday (March 7th) won its battle in the High Court to keep child heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary after the judge ruled that the consultation process to stop the operations there was “flawed”.
SOS, which was made up of parents and local people challenged a review by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCTs) that the hospital should stop heart operations so that care could be concentrated at fewer, larger sites.
The JCPCT also ruled that children’s heart units at Leicester’s Glenfield Hospital and London’s Royal Brompton should also stop surgery and the ruling is likely to affect the future of surgery at those units too.
A spokesperson from SOS said that winning the case proves that the “supposed consultation” was a rubber-stamping exercise conducted with an outcome in mind.
They added that the group had been formed because parents and clinicians could not simply stand by and watch a clear injustice being done and called the consultation process “unfair and legally flawed”.
Mrs Justice Nicola Davies upheld SOS’s claim and said that a further court hearing would be heard on the 27th of this month to determine what the “remedy” would be following her ruling.
This could lead to the whole process being started again or it could just mean that the review team takes a fresh look at the decision over the hospital in Leeds.
However, Sir Neil McKay, chairman of the JCPCT said that he was “disappointed” in the ruling and that the consultation was undertaken “with an honest and open mind”.
He added that the Joint Committee now needs to understand whether the court will quash the JCPCT’s decision in its entirety, as SOS is seeking, or whether it will impose a less draconian remedy and that the JCPCT will be making representations to the court that a quashing of the decision would be unfair and unnecessary.