CHILDREN in Worcestershire who need heart surgery should not be affected by a “life and death” decision to cut the number of specialist surgical centres nationwide say health chiefs.

There are 11 surgical centres across England, including Birmingham Children’s Hospital which provides most of the specialist surgery for youngsters in Worcestershire.

But under the national “safe and sustainable” review into children’s congenital heart services there are plans to develop larger centres of excellence.

Primary Care Trusts such as NHS Worcestershire are now being consulted by a joint committee of PCTs over plans to have either six or seven major surgical centres in England.

There are four different models each of which involve different locations for the major centres but all four models feature Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The implications for Worcestershire were discussed at a board meeting of NHS Worcestershire.

Simon Hairsnape, director of delivery, said: “All of our children from Worcester who need heart surgery go to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital – that is the centre which serves Worcestershire and the West Midlands. We should be reassured that all the potential options retain surgery at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Other primary care trusts looking at this list might be quite concerned about their local specialist centre closing.”

Mr Hairsnape said it may be necessary to seek assurances that capacity at Birmingham Children’s Hospital was sufficient to cope with the extra children when there are a fewer specialist surgical centres. However, he said health leaders in NHS Worcestershire could take “a slightly more relaxed position” than other trusts.

Tony Hadfield, a non-executive director for the trust, said the plans may run against the NHS constitution about providing services as close to home as possible and not all of the options gave a satisfactory geographical spread for the country.

He said families in Yorkshire could face a round-trip of 200 miles for specialist treatment for their children.

Eamonn Kelly, the trust’s chief executive, said: “We could have found ourselves in a different position.”

Dr Richard Harling, director of public health for Worcestershire, said: “It’s the difference between life and death for some of these children.”

The consultation on the plans is expected to finish in July with the model adopted announced in the autumn.