WITH regards to the story about “Heart surgery move concern” (The Press, March 2), the Independent Reconfiguration Panel’s external assessment shows that the NHS consulted appropriately with the overview and scrutiny committee.

This is a complex national review and therefore we allowed all scrutiny bodies seven months to consider the proposals and to provide feedback.

Your article suggests research should be carried out on travel times from York. This work has been done.

The review team commissioned an independent report which we published at specialisedservices.nhs.uk last October. We invite comments with regard to this report by April 16 so they can be considered alongside the report itself as part of the decision-making process.

Some children with a congenital heart condition need urgent medical care. We have considered emergency transfer times using the standards endorsed by the Paediatric Intensive Care Society. These require that any child should be collected by road within three hours (four hours in remoter areas).

In an emergency a child is collected by a specialist medical team. The goal is not for a child to reach a surgical centre in the shortest possible time but that the specialist team gets to the child, stabilises them correctly before travelling to a surgical centre.

Jeremy Glyde, Programme director, Safe and Sustainable, Southside, Victoria Street, London.