Urgent calls to safeguard children’s cardiac operations in Southampton

That is the rallying cry from campaigners who are urging people to show their support for the vital service that could be axed as part of a national review.

They want as many people as possible to turn up to the only public meeting being held in the city to discuss the controversial proposals.

It is being organised as part of a national NHS review that could see the country’s 11 existing children’s heart surgery centres – including Southampton General Hospital – replaced by fewer but larger centres.

Now relatives of some of the hundreds of children who every year receive life-saving treatment in Southampton are urging people to show their support.

Among them are Sam, 38, and Paul Prior, 49, whose eight-year-old son Aaron was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which means that he is missing the left ventricle muscle that pumps oxygenated blood around his body.

The family, of Locks Heath, fear they will have to travel to London or Bristol for future treatment if children’s heart surgery at the hospital is moved or downgraded.

Mrs Prior said: “It’s vitally important that Southampton stays because they have got an excellent quality of service that they are already delivering.

“It’s not just about the travelling distance but the quality of existing services.”

The unit currently carries out around 350 children’s surgical procedures a year, but under the review recommendations at least 400 procedures should be done.

It is also understood a minimum of four surgeons per unit is recommended under the review, with Southampton having three in place and now recruiting a further one.

Southampton’s surgeons are also carrying out up to three extra children’s heart operations every week following the suspension of children’s heart surgery at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital earlier this month after the deaths of four patients.

A hospital spokesman said: “Our indicators of quality are good and we are confident that when the reviewers look at the quality and outcomes we are offering they will support the ongoing development of paediatric cardiac surgery in Southampton.”