Leicester ECMO unit celebrates 25 years

Leicester's Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) unit, which has saved countless lives over the years, celebrates 25 years this month. Originally an experimental unit, it is now one of eight units in the United Kingdom. Unlike all the others it caters for Neonatal, Paediatric and Adult care and it is the biggest ECMO centre in Europe with eight beds. 

ECMO machines are used to keep patients alive while underlying medical conditions are treated. They work by doing the work of the heart and lungs by take blood out of the body to extract carbon dioxide and replace it with oxygen. The machines at Leicester hit the headlines during the swine flu outbreak when they were successfully used to treat two pregnant women who both went on to have their babies. Without these life saving machines a considerable number people wouldn't be alive today.

The therapy was developed by Robert H. Bartlett in America and first used in 1971, he took his inspiration from the techniques being used during open heart surgery at the time. In 1989, Richard Firmin and Andrzej Sosnowski who were working a Glenfield Hospital introduced the treatment into the United Kingdom with the support of Heart Link Children's Charity, who are still are a integral part of the service today. Since then the use if the treatment has spread across the country, with just a single unit in Scotland and seven more in England.

Currently the unit is under threat of closure after Conservative led Government recommended the children's heart surgery centre at Glenfield Hospital for closure. At the time of writing the the decision to close the heart unit at the hospital won't be known until 2015. It is believed if the heart surgery unit is closed at the hospital the ECMO will be moved to another hospital, however that move won't be without it problems and loss of experienced staff that have worked with the machines over they years that don't want to relocate.

Back in 2006 David Cameron said that NHS was safe in his hands. As he said at the time the NHS is "precious" to him and one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century. He said that he personally relies on it to keep his family safe and well. He also said there would be no more "pointless and disruptive reorganisation" of the service. One does wonder if looking back from now he might have lied, especially if the government he leads close something as heart unit at Glenfield Hospital and the ECMO has to move. Personally I hope in another 25 years time people in the region are celebrating 50 years of the unit.