Save Children’s Heart Units

“My daughter wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the heart unit at Glenfield Hospital”.  This was one of the comments made on Leicester Socialist Party stall campaigning against the closure of the local children’s heart unit. The government want to cut the number of specialist heart units in the country down from 11 to 7, meaning that acutely ill children will have to travel miles to their nearest surgical centre (in our case Birmingham – a 70 mile round trip). In addition, they want to get rid of a blood oxygenating treatment service for children (ECMO).

Experts have warned that lives will be lost as a result. A children’s intensive care consultant warned it would also mean the loss of the surgery service for adults born with heart problems. This does not only affect Leicester as these services are used by people across the whole East Midlands and beyond.

The closure is being opposed by the charity, Heart Link,  However, its campaign has been based on saving Leicester’s unit at the cost of other centres. The Socialist Party opposes closure of any children’s heart units. These vital services should be fully funded by the government, and should not have to rely on charitable donations. We put forward demands for democratic running of the NHS, for services to be brought back in-house and for investment in a publicly funded health service. We oppose foundation trusts, which are fragmenting and privatising the National Health Service.

UNISON, the main trade union at Leicester’s hospitals, should be looking to build support for action amongst health workers and in the wider community, if that is necessary to save surgical centres which are under threat. However, the union branch does not have an effective, democratic structure for reps to bring issues forward.  Socialist Party members cannot let the union stand idly by while services are cut.

Thankfully, the lack of action on the part of the UNISON bureaucracy is not matched by a lack of willingness to fight by working-class people. There is also no shortage of support from the public, as we found from our stall, selling 40 papers in just a few hours in the city centre on this issue. People are rightly disgusted about these cuts.

Despite its limitations, the campaign to keep the Leicester, Leeds and London Royal Brompton units open may win a reprieve, due to the pressure being put on by the public. There is a possibility of the government referring the decision to an independent review body. This shows that campaigning and fighting for services can win concessions in the short-term. We still need to press home the message that no cuts are acceptable to the NHS and that services where outsourced should be brought back into public ownership.