Groningen teaching hospital halts heart ops over quality worries

Groningen’s teaching hospital UMCG has suspended operations on patients with congenital heart disease because of concerns about the standard of care.

All operations due to take place until the end of this year have been transferred or postponed while the hospital investigates allegations made by two staff members in the cardiology department.

In the meantime time, patients will be treated at hospitals in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leiden or Rotterdam. Regular heart care and outpatient care will not be affected.

Chairman of the board Alte van der Zee said the problems were related to “working culture at the department, the way people are involved in the decision-making process and such,”  but would not elaborate, except to say the decision to suspend the operations was “complicated and painful”.

“Highly complex operations should be performed under the best possible circumstances. These are not fully present at the moment and that is why we have decided to temporarily halt the scheduled operations,” the hospital said in a statement.

One of the four paediatric heart surgeons at the hospital recently left for reasons that have remained unclear. The hospital said it has since found an experienced replacement.

UMCG performs some 50 operations every three months on people with congenital heart disease, which will now have to be either postponed or performed at other hospitals.