UPDATE: Hospital unit criticised over babies' deaths (From Oxford Mail)

In 2002 my son was operated on and I cannot sing the praises enough to those who looked after him, he is fit and healthy now. Could standards really have slipped that much?

It truly is bad news for Oxford. My son is due to have a heart operation soon and he was set to go to Oxford now it would appear that me and my husband will have to get him comfortable going to another hospital when he finally has his operation. The staff at the JR Cardiac Unit are amazing in all that they do and it is hard to believe that we could lose a world renowed surgeon in Professor Westaby. However, as a parent with a child with a heart condition I will continue to fight to keep the Oxford Children Cardiac Surgery Unit and even though, at present, it is not able to perform operations, i would hope that in the future it will be the beacon of light that it should be.

MariaC wrote:
It truly is bad news for Oxford. My son is due to have a heart operation soon and he was set to go to Oxford now it would appear that me and my husband will have to get him comfortable going to another hospital when he finally has his operation. The staff at the JR Cardiac Unit are amazing in all that they do and it is hard to believe that we could lose a world renowed surgeon in Professor Westaby. However, as a parent with a child with a heart condition I will continue to fight to keep the Oxford Children Cardiac Surgery Unit and even though, at present, it is not able to perform operations, i would hope that in the future it will be the beacon of light that it should be.

Pesonally I would jump on a plane to Newcastle with my kid for the operation, if it meant he was going to live.

"The report does not criticise his care"
Nor according to the Guardian on Air (BBC) does it criticise anything else. "The boys done good". So why bother with an enquiry?

Lord Palmerstone wrote:
"The report does not criticise his care"
Nor according to the Guardian on Air (BBC) does it criticise anything else. "The boys done good". So why bother with an enquiry?

Because with improved working practice they might have done better. It does criticise the lack of supervision, but it falls short of blaming the deaths on that since the infants were so vulnerable it's impossible to know whether they'd have survived. Still, to the mothers it matters. A lot.

Yes online, I picked up, I think, that the issue was the statistical significance of a very small sample. The conclusion seemed unsurprisingly to be that it was not possible to extrapolate from these results to any conclusion. To be fair, if any of the mums had been statisticians they would have known this already and if they aren't it would only tend to distress and frustrate them further. I repeat :to what benefit this enquiry?

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon wrote:

MariaC wrote: It truly is bad news for Oxford. My son is due to have a heart operation soon and he was set to go to Oxford now it would appear that me and my husband will have to get him comfortable going to another hospital when he finally has his operation. The staff at the JR Cardiac Unit are amazing in all that they do and it is hard to believe that we could lose a world renowed surgeon in Professor Westaby. However, as a parent with a child with a heart condition I will continue to fight to keep the Oxford Children Cardiac Surgery Unit and even though, at present, it is not able to perform operations, i would hope that in the future it will be the beacon of light that it should be.

Pesonally I would jump on a plane to Newcastle with my kid for the operation, if it meant he was going to live.

If you read the report, clinical care was not criticised at the unit. The surgeons in question were not criticised. It was the practices and procedures put in place by management that was criticised and it is these practices that the trust and the report acknowledge have to change. May I remind you Oxford has access to a world renown Heart Surgeon, Research Facilities plus two Universitys with an excellent reputation, the NHS does not deserve to loose this knowledge. I do agree things need to change but I dont agree with the removal of the unit.

Lord Palmerstone wrote:
Yes online, I picked up, I think, that the issue was the statistical significance of a very small sample. The conclusion seemed unsurprisingly to be that it was not possible to extrapolate from these results to any conclusion. To be fair, if any of the mums had been statisticians they would have known this already and if they aren't it would only tend to distress and frustrate them further. I repeat :to what benefit this enquiry?

Probably just to decide what new equipment / procedures to use; but I agree it's likely to be expensive and the money could probably be better spent on that new equipment. I understand it's all moot anyhow until a national review is completed of all child heart surgery units; they're planning on funding fewer but larger ones, and Oxford may not be on the list anyway. No point buying new equipment if it isn't going to be used.

Such a pity they are stopping the work, the staff are fantastic, caring and experienced in saving lives and caring. Pity about the managers who just look at figures. Ditch the managers?