It is proving difficult to convince the Healthcare Commission that heart surgeons at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford are doing a good job.

The unit was forced to defend its reputation 18 months ago after simplistic statistics were wrongly used to highlight a high mortality rate among babies.

Last December, there was similar concern about adult operations.

Despite again protesting that watchdogs and scrutineers needed to use detailed, risk-adjusted data to understand the true picture, staff welcomed commission officials into their hospital.

They have now won their campaign for this detailed data to be published nationally, proving there is no cause for concern at the JR. Yet surprisingly, the commission is insisting on completing its review.

It is time to take the pressure off the surgeons and let them get on with their work.

If the commission persists, we can only hope that its meddling does not hit staff morale or patient confidence.