THOUSANDS of balloons were launched in to the sky outside Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) as staff showed their support for the threatened child heart surgery service.

Hundreds of people gathered in Leeds yesterday as the Independent Reconfiguration Panel was due to hand over its recommendations to health secretary Jeremy Hunt, on NHS plans to overhaul paediatric heart surgery in the UK.

Parents in York and throughout the region have been embroiled in a bitter battle with NHS bosses who are determined to end child heart surgery at Leeds and move it to Newcastle.

Shortly before yesterday’s show of support, Elspeth Brown, lead cardiologist at the children’s heart unit said: “We feel very strongly that we should acknowledge the team’s accomplishments and the expert care that the heart unit has given to thousands of children and their families over the last three years.

“Surgery is a critical part of the care we give to patients, but it’s also important to highlight that congenital cardiac care involves far more than surgical procedures.

“We have an excellent national reputation for the interventional cardiology work that we do. It is hugely successful and can offer many of our young patients an alternative to open-heart surgery. That’s why we’ve chosen to mark all procedures conducted by the unit.”

The 2,101 balloons released yesterday represented every interventional and surgical procedure conducted by the unit for children and adults in the last three years.