UK Hospital data

My list of favourites for further study !

by Gemita - 2021-01-29 11:53:24

John,

I presume you posted the question since some members seem to have vast statistics at their fingertips on best EPs around, giving stats like success rates, number of patients treated, death rates and all the rest and we have difficulty finding such a published list here in the UK?    

Royal Brompton Hospital & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust is the largest specialist heart and lung medical centre in the United Kingdom. Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is also thought of very highly in this country.

When I was looking for a good EP (in the London area) I had real difficulty tracking the best down based on statistics alone and I eventually abandoned even trying.  Instead I produced a list of my favourite EPs based on personal recommendation.  I concluded that for me the following list are not only some of the best EPs in their field, but are also extremely likeable doctors too which is so very important.

Professor Richard Schilling, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London

Professor Mark O’Neil, St. Thomas Hospital, London

Dr. Boon Lim, Hammersmith Hospital, London

Professor Sabine Ernst, Research Lead, Electrophysiology, Royal Brompton Hospital & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London

Dr. Vias Markides, Royal Brompton (personal recommendation from a member here) for arrhythmia treatment.  Dr. Markides has been a Clinical Lead for device implantation too.

As you will see all my recommendations are for specialists in the London area.  To be honest, unless you have an ongoing problem related to your treatment, I do not see why you need to be under the care of a specialist EP, or that they would be particularly interested in seeing you (at least not under the NHS).  I think though it is important to be aware of the very best EP you can find should things go wrong with your current treatment in the future.  

I attach a couple of links which might be helpful, from the British Heart Foundation which give useful information on finding the best hospital/doctor, and one from The Independent newspaper which confirms the Royal Bromptom & Harefield NHS Trust as one of the top heart hospitals in the UK:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/medical/how-to-choose-your-hospital-or-doctor/expert-tips-to-find-and-choose-the-best-hospital

https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/news/healthcare-ratings

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/britain-s-best-hospitals-patients-guide-798352.html

I found your last sentence interesting ..........

by IAN MC - 2021-01-29 14:52:07

....... and a little pessimistic !    At no time in the past 10 yrs have I felt that " I am under the care of an E.P. "  In fact I only met the bloke who installed my pacemaker once and that was the day of the PM installation.

As it happens , he wasn't an EP but was an " Interventional Cardiologist ". He was certainly good at fitting pacemakers though. !

Prior to having a PM , I did see an EP to carry out an ablation. I told my cardiologist that I only wanted an EP who he considered to be among the best in the UK.  The question   " If you , or your wife, needed an ablation, who would you use ? "  made him revise his first suggestion .

 I ended up seeing one of the top people who Gemita recommended ( Dr Vias Markides )

If you want to find actual performance data ,  look at the NHS Choices website . I am not certain  whether, or not, it is a legal requirement in the UK for doctors to state their success/ failure rates . One of our UK medical friends will know the answer.

Best of luck, but who knows , your PM may have sorted out your problem and you may never need to see your EP again !  Some people's elecrical problems change  over time , but by no means all .

Ian

Not the UK...

by AgentX86 - 2021-01-29 23:50:30

I haven't done it in a while but here in the states we can look up stats for any doctor who treats Social Security patients by their billing records.  For things like cardiac care, this is the majority of the people and a very good indication.

My cardiologist is also an "interventional cardiologist".  He does pacemakers and heart caths and all that.  He took care of my electrical issues up to a point, then passed me off to an EP in his office.  She quickly reffered me off to a top EP at a large teaching/research university.  She asked to assist in my first ablation.  "Sure, why not?"

Thanks all

by quikjraw - 2021-01-31 06:08:15

Thank you for the information all.

John