3 July 2011
As the public consultation on children’s cardiac surgery in England ends, Asthma UK’s chief executive Neil Churchill has spoken of concerns over the possible closure of Royal Brompton Hospital's paediatric cardiac surgery unit.
Asthma UK is the leading national asthma charity, dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of the 5.4 million people in the UK whose lives are affected by the condition.
“What concerns us are the possible knock-on consequences for children with asthma,” writes Mr Churchill in his blog.
In February, a Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) recommended discontinuing children’s heart surgery at Royal Brompton. This was despite a report rating the hospital highly in a national assessment of all children’s heart surgery centres in England and an analysis showing that Royal Brompton undertakes the necessary number of procedures, and has the required number of surgeons, to ensure a high-quality service is maintained.
One of Royal Brompton’s major concerns about the proposed withdrawal of children’s heart surgery is the knock-on impact on other children’s services, including asthma and cystic fibrosis, which will be caused by the closure of the paediatric intensive care unit and relocation of anaesthetists - a direct consequence of the ending of heart surgery.
As Mr Churchill says: “…without an Intensive Care Unit, the Brompton says it can’t provide the specialised support that the children’s asthma service depends on. So without any consideration of the effects on people with asthma, one of the top asthma services in the country is now at risk.”
In 2009/10, specialists at Royal Brompton saw more people with breathing problems than any other unit in the UK.
Mr Churchill states that several conditions would need to be met before his organisation would support changes to asthma services. He believes none have been met “because the national review has only considered the implications for children’s heart surgery and directly linked services. The indirect implications for respiratory services, despite being significant, have not been taken into account. It is simply not acceptable that such a major change is being proposed without considering the effect on people with asthma and without consultation with asthma doctors, nurses and patients.”
Read: Help save the Brompton's child asthma service on the Asthma UK blog.
Asthma UK adds to other charity voices
Asthma UK is one of a number of charities expressing concerns about the possible impact of the proposals, including The Jennifer Trust, the PCD Family Support Group and Tiny Tickers.
The CF Trust has also voiced its concern over the impact of closure of child and adult patients with cystic fibrosis: “The CF Trust considers the paediatric CF service at the Royal Brompton Hospital to be vitally important in terms of the standard of care provided, its strong research base which has both national and international recognition, and also for the development of guidelines for the care of children with CF which are used throughout the UK and referenced on many of the CF Trust documents, including the recently launched CF Clinical Care Pathway. In addition it is unfeasible that the 300+ patients currently cared for at RBH could be easily or readily accommodated by any of the other London based CF specialist services without significant investment and expansion, neither of which seems to be an option in the current climate.”
International support for Royal Brompton
Royal Brompton Hospital has an international reputation for the services it provides to patients all over the UK and many from other countries. Many professionals around the world train at Royal Brompton and many visit to participate in the specialist courses run by the hospital’s experts.
Professor Dr Dirk Vlasselaers, a leading consultant in the paediatric intensive care unit at University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium has written in support of keeping paediatric cardiac surgery open at Royal Brompton.
Vlasselaers writes about the importance of the teams that work throughout the hospital stating: “It takes years to build an excellent team and it requires many efforts to keep this team updated on a permanent basis. …
"Breaking up this expert team of people would mean an absolute loss of expertise and quality of care. The current plans would mean a substantial devaluation of the quality of care in a great area for the sickest children."
Read Professor Dr Dirk Vlasselaers’statement of support.
Read further information about the Safe and Sustainable review and its impact on Royal Brompton Hospital.
