Keetch Calls For Cross Party Support To Save Heart Transplant Unit

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 28th Mar 2001

Hereford's Liberal Democrat MP Paul Keetch is calling on the Government to ensure the future of the Heart and Lung Transplant Unit of the University Hospital in Birmingham. The unit, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which does heart and lung transplants from across the Midlands and Wales, is one of three units nationally the Government may shut.

Mr Keetch was alerted to the closure by his constituent, Keri Davies, from Hereford who has been waiting for a heart and lung transplant since August 1999.

"Naturally Keri and his wife were very shocked to receive this news", said Mr Keetch.

"Although Keri is only 47 years old he is very ill. To be told that the Government wants to cut the number of transplant units nationally at a time when the service is under so much pressure is quite ridiculous."

"To be told that Birmingham may close and he might have to travel to Sheffield or Manchester has undoubtedly caused Keri much distress."

"He told me that he feels at the end of his tether"."

"The review of the heart transplantation service in England by the National Specialist Commissioning Advisory Group recommended that the number of units should be cut from 7 to 4. St George's has already closed and only one was likely to remain from Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham. All three units do roughly the same number of heart transplants (30-40 per year) and all the costs are about the same."

"University Hospital has recently done their 250th heart transplant and runs the largest solid organ transplant programme in Europe. They are about to do their 2,000 liver transplant and the service they provide is vital to Herefordshire and the whole Midlands", said Mr Keetch."

"I do not know why there is a need to drop to four centres. Given that the Government wants to increase organ donation it doesn't make sense to take out the capacity. In June they open a new cardiac critical care unit at the QE - it will have 30 critical care beds and enable more transplants and heart operations to be performed."

"To put the unit at potential risk now is crazy - so much for Labour's priorities for the NHS.

"Birmingham is in the heart of the country - is easy to get to. I believe patients will be disadvantaged if they have to travel either to London or to Manchester. With heart transplants the speed from donation to transplantation is crucial to the success of the operation".