Concerns about children"s heart surgery units were raised prior to the decision to suspend such operations at a leading hospital, it was revealed today.
The John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford has cancelled all paediatric heart operations following the unexplained deaths of four young patients in as many months.
The deaths of the "very sick children" who had congenital heart defects, happened either during or after surgery.
Parents of 26 children due to undergo surgery there are now being told they will have to have treatment at one of 10 other units in the UK.
Leslie Hamilton, President of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery, said they had been "concerned for some time" about the number of specialist units, however.
He said: "There are 25 to 30 surgeons involved in the whole country. We feel they are spread too thinly across those units.
"Everyone is working hard to provide a good quality of care but we don"t think it is sustainable."
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