PARENTS and local politicians who have been fighting to save child heart surgery in Leeds have questioned the timing of a decision to temporarily halt procedures.

Only 24 hours after the High Court ordered the NHS to rethink its plans to move paediatric heart surgery from Leeds General Infirmary to Newcastle, the Care Quality Commission and NHS England approached the hospital, raising concerns over mortality figures.

Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of NHS England, said the figures were among a “constellation of reasons” to suspend operations, as well as “disturbing” calls he received from two whistleblowers. The hospital announced late on Thursday that it was suspending operations while a review took place.

However, the Conservative MP for York Outer, Julian Sturdy, who is part of a cross-party group backing the LGI, said the timing of the closure was too coincidental.

He said: “We have always, in the cross-party group, asked questions and we have always had a categorical ‘yes’ over safety.

“Why has this happened so soon after the High Court ruling? It’s just too much of a coincidence.”

Myriam Barker, 39, of Dringhouses, whose daughter Margaux underwent surgery at Leeds when she was three, asked where the data had come from and why had it not come out before.

“Why now, just before a bank holiday and break in parliament?” she asked. “The distress caused to families, at the beginning of a bank holiday, when some of their children are awaiting surgery – it’s horrendous.”

As anger grew yesterday, Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West, called for Sir Bruce to resign. But Sir Bruce said there had been “rumblings” among the cardiac surgical community for some time that “all was not well” in Leeds. He admitted the timing of the suspension looked “suspicious”, coming a day after the High Court quashed plans to close the unit.

He said: “Some questions have been raised by the Trust’s own mortality data and by other information. It is important to understand that while this information raises questions, it does not give us answers. But it is absolutely right not to take any risks while these matters are being looked into. The priority must be the safety of children.”

A spokesman for LGI confirmed that surgery had been suspended but said that if an emergency case was brought in “with an hour to live” the patient would be operated on at Leeds.