Heart unit consultations lawful
Major consultations that led to proposals to close the children's heart surgery unit at a hospital engaged in "world-leading" research have been ruled lawful by the Court of Appeal.
The decision is a blow to the Royal Brompton in Chelsea, west London, which is the largest specialist heart and lung centre in the UK and among the largest centres in Europe.
Hospital chiefs say the current proposals, if they are approved, could put its future in doubt.
The controversial consultation process was launched by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) of England as part of a national review aimed at streamlining paediatric congenital cardiac surgery services (PCCS).
The Safe and Sustainable review followed the landmark inquiry into children's heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary between 1990 and 1995, where up to 35 children and babies died as a result of poor care.
In the consultation document the JCPCT expressed the "preferred option" that there should be only two centres for London - one at Evelina Children's Hospital (at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital) and the other at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).
Last November the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust won a High Court ruling quashing the consultations. Mr Justice Owen ruled that the JCPCT had failed to assess fairly the quality of the Royal Brompton's research and innovation and accordingly the consultation exercise was "distorted" and unlawful and had to be quashed.
But three appeal judges - Lady Justice Arden, Lord Justice Richards and Sir Stephen Sedley - disagreed and overturned the High Court decision.
Allowing the JCPCT's appeal, they unanimously declared that "the consultation process cannot be said to be unfair".
But, in a joint ruling, the judges also spoke of the "excellence" of the Royal Brompton and the fact that its work was highly regarded. They said: "A member of the public might well find it difficult to understand why a centre of the standard of the Royal Brompton should cease to be a centre for paediatric cardiac surgical services under the configuration exercise."
