CONSERVATIVES have promised a '300m review of health services for children - and at least five new hospitals.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said they would look at the whole question of paediatric services in the NHS.

A key aim would be to recruit more specialist paediatric staff after a warning by the Royal College of Surgeons that the NHS faces a major shortage. Mr Lansley said: "There's also been an 18 per cent reduction in paediatric intensive care beds. This is another reason for the shift of NHS priorities in capital spending."

New hospitals were promised in Leeds, Nottingham, Derby, Cambridge and Southampton.

The Tories are keen to build on the findings of a report four years ago into the failings of heart surgery for children in Bristol. Tweet