John Radcliffe Hospital Child Heart Surgery “Should Remain Suspended”

Heart surgery on children at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, should remain suspended, a report has recommended.

Between December 2009 and February 2010 there were four child deaths at the hospital all following surgery by a recently appointed surgeon.  The surgeon asked for the heart surgery service to be suspended and that the equipment within the unit was old and working practices poor.

A report commissioned by the South Central Strategic Health Authority found that the surgeon had not made any surgical errors, but identified poor supervision within the service and a failure to identify and act upon trends of poor outcomes.

29 July 2010