Part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
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The newsletter for Trust members with an interest in heart and lung care
February 2023
Plan ahead when coming to our hospitals
Our services will remain open during the transport strikes in February.
If you or your child has an appointment booked, please do all you can to attend. Plan your journey ahead and allow extra time.
If you or your child are not able to get to your appointment, let us know as soon as you can using the contact information in your appointment letter, or visit our contact information page.
For the latest information about strike action, please visit:
National Heart Month 2023
This February is National Heart Month, an opportunity to raise awareness about cardiovascular health, and, as a specialist centre for cardiac conditions, we are using the month to highlight some of the cardiac work that takes place across our hospitals.
Research is the backbone to this, allowing teams to discover new and improved ways to diagnose, and treat a variety of conditions – including heart failure. Read below about two trials that are hoping to improve the outcome for patients susceptible to this life-threatening condition.
First UK centre to trial new medical device to help identify heart failure
A research project at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals aims to determine whether a new medical device can help the early identification of those with worsening heart failure.
The Acorai Heart Monitor is a specialist non-invasive device which uses a unique combination of sensors and artificial intelligence to analyse heart signals to understand the flow and pressure of blood through the heart and lungs. The Acorai device can provide a non-invasive, estimate of the specialist blood pressure in the heart to guide personalised heart failure treatment.
Heart failure is caused when the heart is unable to pump blood around the body effectively and symptoms can include breathlessness, fatigue, light-headedness or fainting, and swollen ankles and legs.
It is long-term condition that cannot usually be cured and tends to get gradually worse over time. It also accounts for 2% of the total NHS budget and for 5% of all emergency hospital admissions in the UK.
Funded by Acorai, this research aims to determine whether the device can provide an accurate non-invasive measure of cardiac output and pulmonary pressures compared to the current standard of care, which is invasive right heart catheterisation, and involves the insertion of a catheter into the heart.
Read more here.
New dilated cardiomyopathy study focuses on Sex-specific differences
An exciting new research project at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals aims to study the sex-specific differences found in male and female patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), thanks to funding from the Medical Research Council (UK).
DCM is a disease of the heart muscle which makes the muscle walls become stretched and thin. The thinner walls are weakened which means the heart isn’t able to contract properly to pump blood around the body. This can lead to a greater risk of heart failure, where the heart fails to pump enough blood around the body at the right pressure.
The research will be led by Dr Upasana Tayal, cardiology consultant in inherited cardiac conditions, who has been awarded a prestigious MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship to determine how DCM affects women and men differently across their lifespan, with the aim of improving diagnosis, treatment and the course of the condition for all patients with DCM.
Read more here.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ first in the UK to provide new sleep apnoea treatment
Guy’s and St Thomas’ has become the first NHS trust in the UK to use a pioneering implant device to treat a man’s severe sleep apnoea.
Sleep apnoea is when your breathing stops and starts while you sleep. It can lead to more serious problems, such as heart disease, if left untreated.
The condition can sometimes be treated by making lifestyle changes, but many people need to use a continuous positive airway pressure device, called a CPAP machine, which gently pumps air into a mask that you wear over your mouth or nose while you sleep.
Matthias Winker, from Reading in Berkshire, suffered with severe sleep apnoea for more than four years and conventional treatments had failed to work. He was one of the first patients to receive hypoglossal nerve stimulation at Guy’s and St Thomas’ to treat the condition.
Read more here.
Share your feedback and help improve clinical research
Every day clinical research is being carried out on a specific illness, condition, treatment or therapy, the results of which could help save lives and improve the quality of care for thousands of people every year.
Lots of people are involved in clinical research studies and trials, but there are lots of people who have still not benefitted from good clinical research.
The Health Research Authority (HRA) has been working in partnership with members of the public, the research community and the University of Lincoln to improve the way clinical research happens so that more people can take part, in ways that are best for them.
They have defined this as clinical research that is more ‘people-centred’.
As part of the People-Centred Clinical Research project, the group has created six proposed hallmarks that they think research will show when it has people at the centre of its design and conduct.
They now want to know what you think and are asking you to share your views and experiences in their online survey.
The HRA want to ensure that they reach as diverse a group of people as possible with their survey, so they are asking you to share the survey and the project with our communities.
The survey closes on Friday 17 Feb 2023.
If you have any questions or would like to request information in a different format or language please email [email protected]
The People-Centred Clinical Research Project is part of the UK Recovery Resilience and Growth Programme delivering the UK vision for the Future of Clinical Research Delivery
Read more about the project on the HRA website.
Join our free health and wellbeing webinars
Empowering patients through digital transformation: new electronic health record
Thursday, 23 February
13.00- 14.00
To register, please click here.
This spring the trust will introduce Epic, a new electronic health record (EHR) system. Join us to learn how this most ambitions programme of clinical pathway transformation will help empower patients to get more involved in decisions about their health, transform the way we deliver care and bring unique opportunities for research through better data capture, to patient-driven service improvements and greater efficiency.
Presentations will include an introduction to MyChart an online portal and mobile app which offers patients personalised and secure online access to manage and view information about their care at our hospitals and community services.
Living with heart failure
Thursday, 23 March
11.30 -13.00
To register, please click here.
Join our multidisciplinary team of experts who will cover aspects of living with heart failure from causes, symptoms, treatments and medications to patient choices, how to live well with heart failure and where to find out more. This webinar has been co-designed with patients, for patients and we are delighted to welcome Nick Hartshorne-Evans, founder and CEO of Pumping Marvellous Foundation, the UK’s patient-led heart failure charity, who will chair the event.
Getting involved in Patient Experience and Improvement
Thursday, 13 April
11am – 12pm
To register, please click here.
Understanding and involving patient, family and carer lived experience is an essential component for improving our services.
Meet peer leaders Lindsey Stedman and Jude Irvine to learn more about our work:
- improving family and patient centred care
- supporting and training for involvement of patients in quality improvement
- the role of our patient and public engagement group and how to join
- opportunities for involvement
We’ll end with a Q & A
This webinar is open to any HLCC patient, carer or public member interested heart and lung care.
Webinar recordings
Catch up on any webinars you may have missed. Access the webinar recordings here.
NHS England Storytelling Festival
Throughout March
Stories & storytelling have been used throughout time to share learning and knowledge. In many safety-critical industries stories of real events are an effective approach to improvement, including across the NHS.
Throughout March NHS England is running a storytelling festival with many interesting events, including a session about the peer-led digital patient storytelling model at royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital. Find our more and book your place here.
Brompton Fountain
Wear Red for Hearts
February is National Heart Month and at The Brompton Fountain we’re celebrating Wear Red Day on February 14th. We’re selling red heart badges for our Healing Hearts appeal, which you can purchase for £5 from our online shop. The money raised from the badges goes towards funding lifesaving medical equipment for children in Royal Brompton hospital. To find out more about our Healing Hearts Appeal or make a donation please click here: Healing Hearts - JustGiving.
Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity is gearing up for a big year of fundraising events
This year it will be the 40th anniversary of the Harefield Fun Run and Family Day. On Sunday 10 September the grounds of Harefield Hospital will host the Fun Run followed by an afternoon of stalls, food, music and activities; with all the proceeds going to causes supporting Harefield Hospital. It promises to be an especially big event this year, to mark the Fun Run’s 40th birthday.
Register your interest on our website to be amongst the first to discover when tickets go on sale: www.rbhcharity.org/forms/register-interest-2023-harefield-fun-run
That’s not all we have planned for this summer. It’s also the 10th Shakin' Stevens' Annual Charity Golf Day as well. Come down to Denham Golf Club on Thursday 15 June for a day of golf followed by a three course meal hosted by music legend Shakin' Stevens.
You can enjoy a beautiful golf course and a delicious meal where all proceeds go to supporting Harefield Hospital. Previous additional celebrity guests include John Lodge of The Moody Blues and Pete Langford of The Barron Knights.
Register your team on our website.
We have lots planned for the year and more events to announce soon, so keep an eye on the events section of our website.
We hope to see you at an event this year.
To learn more about your Trust membership, share your feedback or update your contact details, please contact Nancy Dickinson at [email protected]
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