Southampton General Hospital children’s health unit is a centre of excellence – fact.

In league tables it is ranked the second-highest performing children’s cardiac care centre in the country.

But today its very existence is in doubt, in a shake-up that appears to have no benefits whatsoever to us here on the south coast.

Compare this to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, whose future under the Government shake-up is secure despite coming near the bottom of the table.

Had quality been the only criteria then the league table speaks for itself. But it seems that Southampton is a victim of location, location, location.

There are fewer centres in the north so hospitals of poorer quality have a better chance of survival because the choice just isn’t there.

In the south, however, we in Southampton are just an hour-and-a-half from London, and the other southern unit in Bristol serves the whole of south Wales.

Geographically it seems Southampton may be surplus to requirements.

But surely there must be more to it than that – it is our children’s lives we are talking about here.

When it comes to saving youngsters with life-threatening illnesses location should never take preference over quality of care.

Children’s lives will be jeopardised if the Southampton centre is shut in favour of one that is languishing at the bottom of the league table.

The controversial review claims fewer but larger centres will ensure better care and survival rates for children.

But how can that be if they get rid of the best ones?

Southampton is unique – it has an on-site maternity service, the paediatric intensive care unit is classed the best in the country and it has a 40-year history of success, with a worldwide reputation for quality.

Obviously we are still in the race for survival but it shouldn’t have been put at risk and the south must now unite to ensure that this vital life-saving unit is not lost.