Livingstone wants Brompton inquiry

THE DISPUTE over standards of surgery at London's leading specialist heart hospital, the Royal Brompton, was stepped up yesterday when the Labour MP, Ken Livingstone demanded a public inquiry into the health trust and made a personal attack on its chief executive, Mark Taylor.

The outspoken candidate for London's mayor threatened to name the two consultants he said were at the centre of allegations made in an anonymous letter unless Frank Dobson, the Health Secretary, acceded to his demands.

He accused doctors of a cover-up and claimed Mr Taylor had been evasive when Mr Livingstone had asked for details of the death of the daughter of one of his constituents, Josephine Ocloo.

The trust rejected the claims and described the accusation of a cover- up as "outrageous".

Two independent investigators are studying allegations, made last month in an anonymous letter to the Bristol inquiry, that the Royal Brompton had a poor death rate and that it discriminated against children with Down's syndrome. A hospital spokesman said the letter "did not mention any individual case or patient".

Mr Livingstone issued his demands at an emotional press conference yesterday attended by seven families whose children were treated at the hospital. Several were in tears as they described the treatment they said they had received.

Mrs Ocloo, whose daughter Krista died two years ago after she was diagnosed with a narrowed heart valve, said the hospital had failed to follow up a missed appointment, which could have saved her life.

The trust said that Krista's death had been the subject of an inquiry at the time and no evidence of negligence had been found.

Mr Livingstone, however, rejected this finding as "medics covering the back of the guy who made the errors".