Amanda Pritchard, the CEO of NHS England, was recently welcomed to Royal Papworth Hospital (Friday 16 February) as part of a trip to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Amanda spent the morning at our hospital, hosted by Chief Executive, Eilish Midlane and Chair, Dr Jag Ahluwalia. During her visit, she:
- Followed our emergency heart attack pathway, seeing how the design of our building saves vital seconds for these patients, who can go from the back of an ambulance to an operating room (catheter laboratory) within a minute
- Had a demonstration from cardiac physiology specialists about remote monitoring of heart patients with implantable cardiac devices, which is improving safety, care and productivity
- Met a transplant patient who has been fitted with a left-ventricular assist device (LVAD) which acts as a ‘bridge’ to transplant. She also met staff involved in her care, including members of our allied health professionals.
- Had a tour of critical care and met a patient on ECMO, our most specialised form of mechanical respiratory support, and those staff caring for her. This included various Allied Health Professionals including occupational therapist Amil, who demonstrated a fun therapy game designed to improve patient motivation in rehab.
- Visited our respiratory ward to learn more about our work on respiratory outreach clinics with partners in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System.
- Enjoyed a tour around the Clinical Research Facility in the Victor Philip Dahdaleh Heart and Lung Research Institute, meeting staff and a participant in the EVOLUTION lung cancer clinical trial, which is using cutting edge science to potentially detect lung cancer earlier.
Eilish Midlane, Chief Executive at Royal Papworth NHS Foundation Trust, commented: “It was a pleasure to welcome Amanda to Royal Papworth. Throughout her visit, Amanda was impressed by our building and our use of it, but more importantly she was struck by all of our people that she met and spoke to.
“She reflected that there was a consistent theme of staff pride in the care that they deliver, appetite for research and innovation, and staff looking for the next steps to push the boundaries of care not just here but more widely across the NHS.”
Amanda then spent the afternoon at neighbouring Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where she discovered more about gene editing research, digital innovation for children with seizures across the East of England, remote neo-natal monitoring and the Cambridge Clinical Research Centre.
