Philips and Leeds NHS trust set new standards for integrated cardiac care

Published: 30-Jun-2020

Seven-year agreement puts patients at heart of service design to support increased excellence across specialist care, research and local care provision

Royal Philips and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have agreed a seven-year managed service agreement to deliver on the trusts’ vision to set new standards of excellence for cardiac care in the UK and around the world.

The partnership will combine the latest innovations in technology for integrated cardiovascular solutions to deliver on the quadruple aim: better outcomes, increased efficiency, and improved patient and staff experience.

The service improvement programme will support the co-design of new patient pathways and workflows, all with the aim of delivering the best care experience for patients.

“The cardiology team at Leeds are very proud of the quality of cardiac care we are able to deliver for our patients,” said Dr Chris Pepper, clinical director for cardiology at the trust.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the world’s-leading causes of death, and in the UK we are now seeing more people dying of heart disease at younger ages than in previous years

“We see this partnership as a hugely-exciting and positive opportunity to improve this further and we look forward to being able to provide state-of-the-art cardiac imaging as part of a highly-efficient and forward-looking cardiology service for the people of Leeds and West Yorkshire.”

The agreement includes six fully-featured interventional cardiac suites based on the Philips Azurion platform, including two specialised electrophysiology suites and a structural heart suite, as well as advanced patient monitoring and ultrasound systems.

The Azurion platform provides an intuitive, seamless approach for minimally-invasive procedures that will enable clinicians to focus on treating the patient and help administrators as they strive to improve productivity and efficiency through intelligent resource management.

Dr Pepper said: “We are now working through the backlog of patients and other challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to keep services running and have been supported through our partnership with Philips including in reorganising lab allocations and maintaining patient flow, which has been of substantial benefit.

“Our cath labs are an essential part of our operations, so when two of our systems recently needed urgent repair, we were happy that Philips was able to resolve the issues without impact on our daily workflow.

“Our state-of-the-art ultrasound systems have also helped us maintain efficiency after the first wave of COVID-19 patients and will help streamline and facilitate further recovery.”

It is vital for this ‘we’re all in it together’ mindset to continue in order to help address and resolve a large catalogue of health issues that society is grappling with, and particularly cardiac illnesses and events

"Cardiovascular disease is one of the world’s-leading causes of death, and in the UK we are now seeing more people dying of heart disease at younger ages than in previous years,” added Neil Mesher, chief executive at Philips UK and Ireland.

“Dynamic institutions like Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and its commitment to setting new standards for cardiac care, are needed now more than ever.

“As the UK emerges from the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, it is vital that we rise above transactional exchanges and instead work together in partnership with hospitals and trusts to deliver best-in-class care to keep people living longer, healthier lives.

“We have all seen first-hand how powerful combining our collective resources were in battling COVID-19.

“And it is vital for this ‘we’re all in it together’ mindset to continue in order to help address and resolve a large catalogue of health issues that society is grappling with and particularly, cardiac illnesses and events.

“Over the next seven years we will work side by side with Leeds in genuine partnership to continue to improve the quality of care provided to patients and to share these best practices with other hospitals and trusts across the UK.”

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