Heart Centre win

East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre (EMCHC) at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester – which treats children and adults with heart problems from birth  – was on the brink of closure after NHS England claimed that the Centre didn’t carry out enough operations to meet safety standards.

‘Massively effective’

But thanks to a remarkable grassroots community campaign, of which Unite played a central part, the heart unit was saved.

On November 30, NHS England announced it would be scrapping an earlier plan to shut the Centre to rapturous joy from local campaigners, who had persisted for nearly a year in using every avenue at their disposal to save the unit.

“It was a concerted, long-running campaign which secured vast support from both members and non-members,” explained Unite regional officer Mark Pettifer. “It was started by one of our members Steve Score and it brought together people from the wider community – patients, parents, NHS staff, charities and more. It involved both the industrial side of the union as well as Unite Community.”

Over the last year that the Centre was threatened with closure, campaigners organised rallies, set up petitions and enlisted the support of local newspapers which all rallied to the cause.

“[Unite general secretary] Len [McCluskey] also personally lent his support when he joined us at one of our marches,” Pettifer explained. “With the resources we had at Unite we could support the campaign both financially and through our publicity machine.”

“There’s no doubt that the Centre would have closed had it not been for the campaign,” he added. “It was massively effective.”

‘Critical’

Pettifer explained just how important the Centre is for the many families whose children would likely not be alive if it weren’t for the state-of-the-art care offered there.

“The EMCHC is critical for the whole East Midlands region,” he explained. “If the Centre were closed, it would mean families being forced to travel as far as Birmingham, which would put a huge strain on these families when they already have so much to worry about.”

Campaigners said that the arguments for shutting the Centre – that they didn’t perform enough operations to meet new safety standards – were flawed. After all, the Centre performed 331 operations last year – just shy of the arbitrary 375 number NHS England has now deemed safe.

The Heart Centre has not had one mortality in the 30 days after any of its operations, and has pioneered treatments that have saved children’s lives.

It is also one of only three centres in the UK with an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenator) which delivers oxygen to a patient’s blood system – and enables babies and children to survive heart and lung failure.

“It was obvious that the arguments being used by NHS England were a cover-up for cut-backs,” Pettifer explained. “We were sure this move was all part of the ‘efficiency savings’ they are being asked to make because their excuses for shutting the Centre didn’t make any sense.”

Working together

In a speech at a celebration rally, Unite member and chair of the campaign Steve Score highlighted the vast numbers of people who helped support the campaign.

“We’ve had 130,000 sign the Parliamentary petition; we’ve seen 7,500 people respond to the online consultation,” he said. “It’s been the support of the masses of ordinary people that has won this campaign above all.

“We knew all along that it was not correct to close this congenital heart centre,” he added. “We knew all along the outcomes and results of this centre were fantastic. There was no justification for closing it. But at last NHS England’s board has seen sense and accepted [our] arguments.”

Unite national officer for health Sarah Carpenter hailed the campaign’s success and the role Unite members played.

“We are very proud of how hard our members in the region and in the health sector worked on this campaign,” she said. “If it weren’t for their efforts and the efforts of the wider community, there is no doubt we would have seen the demise of a centre of excellence in surgery that literally saves hundreds of children’s lives each year.

“This campaigning success shows Nye Bevan’s words ring true to this day – ‘The NHS will last as long as there’s folk with faith left to fight for it.’ And our members’ faith is indomitable.”

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail agreed.

“The campaign showed what we can accomplish when we work together – our industrial members, NHS staff, joined our Unite Community members and engaged with the wider community of parents, patients, local media and others to create a campaign that had real momentum,” she said.

“As Unite lobbies in Parliament for robust funding for the NHS, our grassroots activists and members on the ground are ensuring a future for the health service with each of these local campaigning victories. The campaign to save the East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre is a sterling example of people power in action.”