High Court legal bid to save Leeds child heart surgery 11 February 2013 Last updated at 05:12 The High Court is due to hear a legal challenge over plans to end child heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary. An official review concluded last July that the hospital should stop operations so that care could be concentrated at fewer, larger sites. Children will instead have to travel to Newcastle or Liverpool for surgery. The Save Our Surgery group is seeking a judicial review of the NHS decision. It says the consultation process behind the plan was unfair and legally flawed. Last resort The review, by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT), ruled that children's heart units at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital and London's Royal Brompton should also stop surgery. It proposed surgery would continue at Great Ormond Street in London, Evelina Children's Hospital, also in London, Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, Birmingham Children's Hospital, Alder Hey in Liverpool and the Royal Children's Hospital in Bristol or Southampton General. As part of the review process, each hospital was visited by a panel of experts and given a score based on its performance. The Save Our Surgery (SOS) legal challenge centres on how those scores were worked out and the level of scrutiny they were subjected to. Sharon Cheng, from SOS, said: "Taking legal action has always been our last resort option, pursued only after all other appeals to review the decision were rejected by the JCPCT. At the end of the day, this is about protecting the lives of children and this is why we believe that the challenges to NHS officials should be heard. The former national clinical director for heart disease and stroke, Sir Roger Boyle, who was one of the experts advising the review, says the NHS made the right decision and that Leeds General Infirmary would continue to play a vital role providing cardiology services to children. The Brompton has lost its own application for judicial review. A review of the JCPCT recommendations by the Independent Review Panel (IRP) will report to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt at the end of February.