Safe and Sustainable; children’s congenital heart services
The NHS has launched a major four month public consultation on the way children’s congenital heart services should be provided in the future. The NHS is urging everyone with an interest in children’s congenital heart services to take part in the consultation and have their say on these vital services.
Children’s heart surgery is complex and becoming increasingly specialised. The NHS Safe and Sustainable review aims to improve outcomes for children with congenital heart disease by introducing new national quality standards, developing children’s heart networks and pooling surgical expertise. Safe and Sustainable is proposing four options to reduce the number of hospitals providing children’s heart surgery from 11 to six or seven to improve results for children. The review also proposes that many non-surgical services, such as diagnosis, assessments and ongoing care, are provided closer to families’ homes.
Full details are on our website: www.specialisedservices.nhs.uk/safeandsustainable