Truth About Yorkshire Heart Surgery Will Come Out in Court
Campaigners for the Yorkshire Children's Heart Surgery Unit say the truth will come out in court.
Nine families are taking legal action against the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust after the parents of a York schoolboy, who died following surgery at the Leeds General Infirmary, received an apology from health bosses and compensation.
11 year old Bradley Brough, who was born with a complex congenital heart condition, died in October 2010 from a bleed on the brain following several surgeries at the Yorkshire unit.
Nihal Weerasena, the surgeon who carried out the operation on Bradley, has not done any surgery since March 2013 under a voluntary agreement and is currently being investigated by the GMC.
Bradley’s parents, Sharon and Kevin Brough, from Upper Poppleton, said they hoped lessons had been learned as a result of their son’s death.
Michelle Elliot from Doncaster is just one of the nine parents who’ve subsequently launched legal action as well. Some lost their children after having surgery in Leeds. Others, like Michelle’s, were left injured or disabled.
Her daughter Jessica was left with brain damage after her referral for a heart transplant was delayed and she had a stroke while she was waiting.
Michelle and 15 other families received an apology from the Trust in March 2014, after a report by NHS England concluded that there were failings within the care of their children.
But Michelle says that’s not enough: "There were 29 recommendations made on the ‘death report’ (as it’s known) and NHS England and the Leeds Trust promised that the families that wanted to be involved would be," she told us.
"I’ve heard nothing. I’ve had no contact. I’ve not heard from either the Trust or NHS England to say that the recommendations that were made have even begun to be addressed.
"We just want the truth to come out. We always knew that once the court cases started rolling, that questions would be asked. We want to know that if a surgeon hasn’t got the skills to perform the surgery then there’s no question that a baby or a child would be sent elsewhere.
"It’s about closure. Jessica needs 24 hour care for the rest of her life. I’ve given up everything to care for Jessica and I’d do it again in a heartbeat but some of these families lost their children.
"It’s just the arrogance of the people there - that they can push us aside and think we’ll go away. We’re not going to go away."
Sharon Coyle is CEO of the Children's Heart Surgery Fund in Leeds. She's welcoming the legal action as she doesn’t think the unit has anything to hide.
"It’s a positive thing really because there doesn’t seem to be any conclusion and if the families need some closure and this is the way forward, then perhaps this is the way we have to do it," she told us.
"I think it’s really unfortunate that it’s come to this but the difficulty is, it’s hard for the Trust to comment on cases, so these things seem to be happening through the media instead. It’s almost trial by media and that needs to stop, there has to be an end to that.
"I’m deeply sympathetic to the families. To lose a child is just unthinkable and I can only imagine how they feel. If they need their answers then this must happen for both sides.
"We have to stop this media circus so if it has to be through the courts, then let’s deal with it."
Dr Yvette Oade, Chief Medical Officer for the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said:
"In October 2014 the final report into the Leeds Children’s Heart Surgery unit was published. This provided a conclusion to the four independent reviews into the care, mortality rates, governance and family support at the unit, which have taken place over the previous 18 months.
"No other children’s heart unit in the UK has been the subject of such intense review and scrutiny in recent times.
"It is important to stress the overall conclusions were that the service is safe and running well. As with any report of this nature, a number of recommendations were made about ways in which we could improve the service further and already significant progress has been made in implementing these across the unit.
"In addition the findings have helped in the development of NHS England’s national standards for congenital heart disease which are due for publication later this year.
"The Trust has previously apologised to the small number of families where care and support were not to our usual high standards.
"We have made significant changes to our services to improve this experience and ensure we are as supportive as possible during such a difficult time."