Sir Roger Boyle, director of the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes has stepped down amid concerns over the safety of the children’s heart surgery unit at Leeds General Infirmary.
Last week, Sir Roger spoke out and said he would not want his daughter to be treated at the hospital.
As a result of his comment, he was taken off the review team responsible for overseeing changes to child heart surgery in the health service. Sir Roger was head of the institute, and it was his job to oversee mortality data in the NHS.
He raised concerns about mortality figures at the unit at Leeds General Infirmary which led to surgery being suspended on 28th March. When surgery resumed 11 days later, Sir Roger questioned the decision, saying the unit remained “on the edge of acceptability”.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Monday (15th April) that Sir Roger would no longer be playing a part in the review into child heart surgery in England and Wales.
Mr Hunt said “He did the right thing in informing Sir Bruce (Keogh, NHS England Medical Director) about his concerns over Leeds mortality data.
“However it is the view of Sir Bruce, with which I fully concur, that his comments to the media on April 11th could be seen as pre-judging any future conclusions made by that review and so it is right he plays no further role in its deliberations”.