Professor passed on Leeds information over 'safety' concerns

There are calls for the medical director of the NHS in England to resign over his decision to suspend children's heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary.

Sir Bruce Keogh has been criticised for closing the heart unit after he saw figures suggesting death rates there were twice the national average.

A senior doctor at the hospital Elspeth Brown has questioned the reliability of the data.

The Director of the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research, Professor Sir Roger Boyle, said he was the one who passed on the information to Sir Keogh because he wanted to take "a safety first approach".