Leeds Children’s Heart Surgery Unit

George Mudie Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Westminster Hall

[Mr George Mudie (Leeds East) (Lab)]

I join with hon. Members in congratulating the hon. Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew) on securing the debate and on the way that he has handled the campaign. He has been inclusive. He has handled it sympathetically and intelligently, and he has worked with a very good campaign in Leeds. I hope it is successful above all for the children’s unit, but it would also reflect on the hon. Gentleman. I echo his comments about the Minister. I am delighted to see an independent mind in the Department of Health. It makes such a difference, but I wonder how long it will be before those officials weigh down on her.

As a layman, it seems to me incredible to place such an important facility in Newcastle rather than West Yorkshire. Some 5.5 million people are served by the Leeds unit and 2.5 million served by Newcastle. By 2030, the population of Yorkshire and Humberside will increase by 16.5%, up to 6.2 million people. Newcastle’s will increase by only half of that—8.2%. If those figures are challenged as being only projections, in the last census Yorkshire and Humberside went up by 300,000 and the north-east by 57,000. If we are talking about placing a strategically important, sensitive service, Newcastle is not the place where the conurbations and numbers are.

When the subject was first debated, I argued in the House that we should look at Newcastle in a different light. I hate the idea of us and Yorkshire saying, “Our kids cannot go 100 miles because of this, that and the other,” but we are then put in this corner of arguing that Newcastle kids can come down and do the same thing and it is okay for them. The hon. Member for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland) said that Scotland is content with the numbers. If the people of Newcastle wanted that unit and were prepared to have that unit, I think there is a case for leaving it, because the geographical distances cause a great problem.

In Leeds, 23% of the children are from an Asian ethnic background. In Yorkshire and Humberside, that figure is 6.2%, or 326,000. In the north-east, it is less than 70,000. I had to fight to close the South Shields immigration tribunal centre and open the Bradford centre, because I was aghast at the cost for people from ethnic minorities—the Bangladeshi community are among the poorest in the city—having to travel all that way. That is compounded when going to sit beside a child who has had surgery, and who is recovering or not recovering. The time and expense is a factor that does not seem to have been considered.

This is not the time—perhaps it is appropriate: more publicity and so on—to re-argue the case. The case has been argued. The case is stated. It is how this review body carries out the review. There are fears that the panel will not address the accuracy, objectivity and rigour in the assessment processes throughout the Safe and Sustainable review, and that impact assessments carried out by independent bodies were all ignored. The Minister said that it would be for the review body to decide the full extent of its review of all the decisions that have been made. That seems to suggest—we all agree with this—that the finding of the panel will be independent but the evidence it chooses to consider will be its own choice. I seek assurances from the Minister that she shares my view that all the facts that were part of the eventual decision—all the facts—should be investigated, and in particular, the specific facts raised in relation to Leeds and Leicester.

The hon. Member for Pudsey asked the Department of Health to ensure that the JCPCT released non-confidential information to the joint health and overview scrutiny committee. The Minister replied with the unsatisfactory,

“it is for the JCPCT to decide what information to release about the review and we are unable to comment further.”

Why did the Minister take this clearly unsatisfactory line? When she replies, I would like her to indicate whether she or her colleagues even asked the panel to release non-confidential evidence and, if they did not, why not.