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| Campaigners win Leeds heart surgery legal challenge | Campaigners win Leeds heart surgery legal challenge |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Campaigners trying to keep child heart surgery in Leeds have won a legal challenge. | |
| A judicial review was brought at the High Court in London last month by the Save our Surgery group (SOS) over an NHS decision to stop the operations. | A judicial review was brought at the High Court in London last month by the Save our Surgery group (SOS) over an NHS decision to stop the operations. |
| SOS's claims the consultation process was unfair and legally flawed have been backed by a judge. It is not yet clear what the victory will mean. | |
| Sharon Cheng, from SOS, said the group was "extremely pleased and relieved". | |
| 'Clear injustice' | |
| She said: "This judgment finally confirms what we have always believed, that the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts' review process and decision to remove children's heart surgery services from Leeds was unlawful. | |
| "Winning this case in the High Court proves once and for all that the supposed consultation was a rubber-stamping exercise conducted with an outcome in mind, with clinicians, MPs and patients fooled into feeling they had influence. | |
| "This action was taken by parents and clinicians who simply could not stand by and watch a clear injustice being done." | |
| The Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) had decided that child heart surgery should also end at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital and London's Royal Brompton. | |
| The High Court ruling could also affect the future of surgery at those units. | |
| Nearly 600,000 people signed a petition against the decision to end surgery at the unit in Leeds, which treats children from across Yorkshire and the Humber region. | |
| If the plan went ahead, children would instead have to travel to Newcastle or Liverpool for operations. |