9:42am Friday 3rd August 2012 in The Press (York)

A LEADING children’s charity has urged both sides in the row over the future of child heart surgery in our region to “put their differences behind them”.

The Children’s Heart Federation (CHF) said it welcomed an end to the uncertainty about which units would close, following the NHS’s decision to move paediatric heart surgery from Leeds to Newcastle.

Despite 3,000 people marching through Leeds last week to protest against the decision, CHF chief executive, Anne Keatley-Clarke said: “The change will result in better services closer to home through the development of other cardiology services closer to home in the new congenital heart networks where expertise and information is shared across hospitals.

“We of course recognise that there will be some parents who are disappointed with the result, but we are urging everyone to put their past differences behind them in order to work together to provide all heart children with the safe, sustainable and excellent services they need and deserve.”