SETTING aside the concerns over four deaths at the John Radcliffe Hospital, it would be a shame for many of the county’s patients and their families if the paediatric cardiac surgery unit were to close just because it is considered too small.

The city is justifibly proud of its reputation as a centre of medical excellence but it looks like the unit could well be culled as part of a government push to streamline services into “super centres”.

There are currently 11 units across the country and Oxford is the smallest, with two surgeons carrying out only about 100 operations a year.

The Government is looking for centres to do about 400 procedures, and its rationale makes sense. With the Government claiming heart surgery is becoming more complex, there is merit in its argument that larger centres with more staff are needed.

But it is a difficult balance to strike: whether these super centres would provide, ultimately, a better service than localised concentrated units.

Health officials should keep in mind that they are dealing with children, and that by keeping services closer to a patient’s home it means they are far more likely to have the positive healing influence of family around them during their recovery.

  • YESTERDAY Lee Mackie had to endure what no parent should ever have to as she listened to the details of the horrific death of her son Jason.

Marine Mackie was blown about 25m in the blast that killed him and a fellow trooper said it was obvious he was dead.

We can only imagine how difficult it was, yet she was still able to pay tribute to her son’s colleagues, which takes some character.