Paediatric Cardiac Surgery

Peter Soulsby Excerpts

Wednesday 7th July 2010 Westminster Hall

[Liz Kendall]

I agree absolutely with the hon. Lady. The costs associated with changing children’s heart surgery centres include not just physically expanding a centre’s buildings, beds and equipment, but retraining staff. When I went to Glenfield, I was told that many of the staff would not move if the centre were changed. It takes time and money to train new staff, particularly in such a specialised area, and the review must take that into account when it makes its recommendations.

[Sir Peter Soulsby (Leicester South) (Lab)]

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on obtaining this timely debate and on how she is expressing her concerns. She obviously has considerable understanding and experience of and expertise in these matters. Will she join me in asking the Minister to give an assurance that cost will not be the overwhelming issue that drives the decisions, and that the concerns, fears and wishes of parents and practitioners will be foremost in his consideration?

[Liz Kendall]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend. The review must not be driven by a desire to cut costs, and it must acknowledge that increased costs are likely with any change to services.

I welcome the Government’s review of children’s heart surgery and their objective of ensuring that all children get the best quality care, but I urge the Minister to ensure that the full range of clinical factors—not just the ratio of surgeons to patients—is taken into account as part of the review, in particular implications for accessing care, including in emergencies, and the knock-on effects for other specialisms. I urge him to ensure that other aspects of care that are critical to parents and families, such as the quality of communication, and the wider facilities and support, are properly considered.

I urge the Minister not to conduct the review on the basis of cutting costs—there will be costs associated with any changes—and to ensure that the views of parents, other family members and former patients are fully taken into account before recommendations are made in the autumn. I look forward to his response.