A regional newspaper team will today head to Number Ten to hand a petition signed by 232,733 readers to the Prime Minister, urging him to save a children’s heart unit.

The editorial team from the Newsquest-owned Southern Echo in Southampton launched the Have a Heart  campaign earlier this year to try to save a children’s cardiac care unit at a hospital in the city.

The Echo has been running the campaign after the joint committee of Primary Care Trusts launched a review of specialist children’s centres which placed the unit at Southampton General Hospital under threat.

On Wednesday a delegation from the paper will head to London and hand the petition to David Cameron.

Editor in Chief Ian Murray said: “Our campaign has really caught the public’s imagination and we are now in countdown to what we have labelled D-Day – Downing Street Day – when the petition will be taken to Number 10 to be handed in to the Prime Minister.

“If anyone hasn’t signed the petition yet we are urging them to do so before the deadline. But so far the response has been magnificent.”

The campaign attracted a massive backing from the public, hospital staff, families of heart patients, politicians, businesses, charities and schools and celebrities.