"I AM confident further reviews will find Leeds Hospital safe to resume all heart surgery soon – they provided my son with the best possible treatment."
These are the words of Joanne Rilatt, a leading campaigner in North East Lincolnshire, who together with other families has fought hard to save children's heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary.
Her latest comments come as health bodies begin a phased restart of surgery today, starting with lower-risk cases.
It follows completion of the first-stage of a review by a multi-disciplinary independent clinical team, which has been working to establish the immediate safety of the unit since Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, suspended operations almost two weeks ago.
A second stage of the review will now begin looking at other areas where improvement may be necessary.
This will comprise:
A review of the way complaints from patients are handled, including the issues raised by the Children's Heart Federation.
Completion of a review of patients' case notes over the past three years
In addition, NHS England will further explore issues that have been raised about referral practices to ensure they are clinically appropriate.
Mrs Rilatt, 41, whose son Benjamin, 8, underwent cardiac surgery at the Leeds children's heart unit, said: "All hospitals should have investigations and reviews on-going so I welcome this second stage.
"I am confident that Leeds is safe and I would want to take Benjamin back there immediately if he needed urgent treatment.
"I am delighted that surgery has resumed no matter how small it may be for now.
"We put words into action and never gave up, all families and children involved in campaigning against the closure of this unit should be very proud."
During the first stage of the review, NHS England received assurances from independent experts about the quality of surgery and staffing levels that were sufficient to allow the phased resumption of operations.
However, it has asked for significant improvements to the way the unit monitors the quality of care so it can be compared with similar services. The review found that the Trust's data for monitoring surgical results was uniquely poor, triggering concerns about death rates and gaps in information.
The decision follows a risk summit that drew together the Trust, NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and the NHS Trust Development Authority.
Sir Bruce said: "The information that came to light about Leeds raised some really serious questions and action had to be taken.
The Trust agreed to pause surgery until these questions were investigated.
"If we have learned anything from public inquiries such as Bristol and Mid Staffordshire it is that patients were harmed while organisations argued about the veracity of data used to measure clinical results, rather than addressing the underlying issues.
"We would not have been forgiven if a child had died or suffered unnecessary harm while we sat on our hands.
"I am pleased that we have now been given assurances by independent assessors that the immediate safety concerns, which were bubbling up from a variety of sources, have been addressed and that the unit can recommence surgery.
"We now need to explore some of the wider issues around how the unit operates as a whole.
"I hope we will soon be able to give the unit a full clean bill of health beyond this immediate reassurance of safety."
