23 February 2022

Royal Papworth Hospital and Philips UK & Ireland have been working together since 2018 with the shared ambition of delivering the best possible care and treatments for patients. 

The partnership aims to find novel solutions and co-develop pioneering technology for the services and equipment that would enable both organisations to continue to move forwards as globally renowned centres of excellence. 

Royal Papworth Hospital is the UK’s leading heart and lung hospital treating more than 50,000 patients every year; Philips is a leader in diagnostic imaging systems, healthcare information technology solutions, patient monitoring, cardiac devices and services, transformational consultancy services and home healthcare solutions. 

The alignment between the two organisations, as well as the shared ambition to drive innovation through stronger collaboration between private and public sectors, makes the partnership between Royal Papworth Hospital and Philips a shining example of what can be achieved within the UK health sector.  

The relationship has led to several joint research initiatives and created opportunities for Royal Papworth to trial cutting-edge technologies across the hospital and deliver better outcomes. 

For example, the venture has led to the optimisation of the hospital’s catheter laboratories, in which Philips have adapted and strengthened the connectivity between the hospital’s electronic patient record and the different digital systems to advance the clinicians’ experience and workflow. The success of this collaborative project has seen a real-world difference to the hospital’s efficiency and, pre COVID-19, facilitated a near doubling of elective and emergency cases from 2019.

The partnership has also directly benefitted patients with an uplift in the number of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) procedures as a result of the new HeartNavigator software in the advanced hybrid catheter lab. TAVI has evolved into a safe and effective procedure to treat patients with severe aortic stenosis, with predictable and reproducible results. Rates of complications such as vascular complications, strokes and paravalvular leaks are lower than ever as a result of improved patient selection and device preparation.

Emma-Treise Aherne, Director of Operations for Cardiology at Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust commented: “HeartNavigator has assisted the measuring and selection of aortic valve devices and the choosing of the best X-ray angle when undertaking TAVIs. Working collaboratively with Philips has helped refine the procedure to deliver better patient outcomes”.

Veronique Tordoff, Image Guided Therapy Business Leader at Philips UK, said: “The Philips vision for advanced catheter laboratory development is to harness innovation throughout the entire pathway. We support our customers by improving their clinical and operational efficiency across the care pathway and we are delighted to see these encouraging results with our partners at Royal Papworth Hospital. We are committed and excited to continue to work in partnership with Royal Papworth to further improve patient care.”