HOSPITAL staff and parents were ‘delighted’ after a children’s heart unit was last night saved from closure.

Southampton General Hospital’s unit, which serves Dorset and the New Forest, was reprieved at 7pm after an eight-hour meeting.

Katy Watkins from Ensbury Park in Bournemouth shed tears of joy and relief.

The 41-year-old said: “It’s amazing. I am pretty emotional, everybody has worked so hard to keep it open.”

Her son Nathan was 12 when he had an operation at Southampton to deal with a narrowing of the aorta, the main artery from the heart.

She said: “We would have had to travel to Bristol and at Southampton we had the best surgeon in the country.” Southampton is rated the second best unit in the country outside London.

The Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts last night agreed to take Option B, saving seven centres out of ten.

Clare Chissell from Oakdale in Poole said she was ‘very happy’. Her two-year-old son Thomas is under the care of Southampton specialists for a condition that causes the thickening of his heart valves.

She added: “Thomas is one of five children. Travelling to a hospital, trying to arrange care and being away from them, is not a nice thought.”

The NHS wants fewer, larger hospitals to perform this kind of specialist surgery.

Mums like Nicky Broadbank from Bearwood joined the local campaign to save Southampton’s unit.

Her five-year-old son William had 18 operations there.

A Southampton Hospital spokesman said the public consultation showed quality outweighed other considerations.

Were you helped by the unit? Email newsdesk@bournemouthecho.co.uk