It is a tertiary referral university teaching hospital, with a strong international reputation for medical research in cardiac and respiratory health.

The treatment, which was carried out by a team of fifty, required three operations and the child is believed to be the "first baby in UK to survive with the extremely rare condition.

"[5][6] In July 2012 it was announced that the East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre which served 5 million people and treated 230 children and 70 adults a year, would close to focus surgical expertise in fewer locations.

[7] In a letter to Andrew Lansley, ECMO expert Kenneth Palmer of the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm warned that about 50 babies and children will die over a five-year period if treatment moved to Birmingham.

Liz Kendall claimed that the unit was one of the "best performing surgical centres" in England and the decision wasn't justified – a view shared by both John Adler, the chief executive of University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Leicestershire County Council.

[15] On 29 October hundreds of people marched to protest about its proposed April 2017 closure with Adler reiterating that clinical outcomes were "amongst the best in the country" though NHS England said it wouldn't meet the mininimum number of operations required by the new standards.