The fight to save a Birmingham transplant unit from closure has been taken to
Downing Street.
Campaigners travelled to London to hand over a 12,000-signature petition calling
on the government to keep transplant operations at the city's Queen Elizabeth
hospital.

The move follows a government review which recommended the closure of four of
the seven transplant units across England and Wales.

Coventry car worker Steve O'Reilly was one of the campaigners who travelled to
London.



We have got to try and stop the closure and we are really hoping we can do
that

Steve O'Reilly
The 61-year-old had a heart transplant at the hospital five years ago.

He said: "The Queen Elizabeth unit not only serves people in the Midlands but
Wales and some parts of Cornwall too.

"We're talking about a unit that serves a population the equivalent of Scotland
and if it was closed, it would have a devastating effect."

"It's not just the operation. The after-care takes a lot of time visiting the
hospital week in week out and there would be nowhere in the Midlands for
transplant patients to go.

"We hope the petition is taken seriously. We have got to try and stop the
closure and we are really hoping we can do that."

Cross-party support

The campaign to keep the unit open is being backed by senior doctors and MPs
from all parties.

Earlier this year, Health Minister Yvette Cooper told the Commons that the
hospital had a 33% chance of staying open.

The unit is competing against transplant services in Manchester and Sheffield to
survive restructuring plans.

Last week former patients of the heart and lung transplant unit in Sheffield
handed the health minister a petition calling for it to be kept open.

The unit at the Northern General Hospital is also under threat as part of the
government's restructuring plans.

More than 60,000 signatures were on the petition.

MPs across Yorkshire have also joined the cause which is led by the Sheffield
Heart and Lung Transplant Society.




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