In October 2009 the new Oxford Heart Centre opened at the John Radcliffe Hospital to meet the growing needs of heart patients in Oxfordshire and across the region. The Oxford Heart Centre is a centre of excellence for treating people with heart disease. It is supported by an internationally renowned Academic Department of Cardiovascular Medicine which in 2008 received the highest quality rating in the country for its research. The £29m expansion to the unit provides state-of-the-art facilities, research and care.
Nursing beds consist of a 21-bed Cardiothoracic critical care unit incorporating coronary care, a 16-bed Day Case Unit, 50 single rooms for patients over 2 wards (Cardiology & Cardiothoracic Surgery) and a 16 bed rapid assessment unit. Investigative and therapeutic facilities include 5 Cardiac Catheter Laboratories (24/7 Heart Attack Centre, TAVI & other advanced interventional procedures), dedicated pacing theatre, advanced echo techniques (including 3D, stress echo, transoesophageal & intra-cardiac echo), cardiac gamma camera (nuclear cardiology), 2 Cardiac MR scanners, as well as a full range of non-invasive ECG and BP monitoring facilities. There are two cardiac surgery theatres, dedicated space for medical teaching, and for research into new treatments for heart disease.
Annually, over 4,000 procedures are performed in the Catheterisation Laboratories including more than 800 interventions, electrophysiology and radio-frequency ablation. More than 1000 cardiopulmonary bypass operations are performed annually.
The Cardiology Department consists of a large number of NHS Consultants together with the University Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, lead by Professor Hugh Watkins, Field Marshall Alexander Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine (endowed by the British Heart Foundation). Cardiologists have the following principal sub-specialty interests:
Intervention
Profesor Adrian Banning
Professor Raj Kharbanda
Dr Jeremy Langrish
Dr Andrew Lucking
Electrophysiology
Dr Yaver Bashir
Dr Tim Betts
Dr Kim Rajappan
Dr Matthew Ginks
Imaging – Cardiac MRI, Echocardiography & Nuclear Cardiology
Professor Saul Myerson
Dr Jim Newton
Dr Nik Sabharwal
Dr Andrew Kelion
Congenital Heart Disease
Dr Oliver Ormerod
Dr Elizabeth Orchard
Heart Failure
Dr James Gamble
Dr Eleanor Wicks
Pulmonary Hypertension
Dr Alex Pitcher
Academic
Professor Hugh Watkins (Heart failure and Genetics)
Professor Stefan Naubauer (Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
Professor Keith Channon (Intervention and Vascular Biology)
Professor Robin Choudhury (Intervention and Vascular Biology)
Professor Neil Herring (Pacing and device therapy)
Professor Oliver Rider (Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging)