More Than A Hospital

Tal Golesworthy was born with a genetic condition called Marfan syndrome which affects the body’s connective tissue and can lead to cardiovascular, skeletal and visual problems.

For Tal, an engineer by trade, the condition took a particular toll on his heart, weakening the walls of the aorta and causing them to expand. Surgical intervention would involve total root replacement of the aorta, including the valve, and re-implanting the coronary arteries.

The idea of major surgery, and the ensuing lifelong dependency on anticoagulant medicine to prevent blood clots, was enough for Tal to explore an alternative route.

With the help of Professor John Pepper, consultant cardiac surgeon at Royal Brompton Hospital, Tal drew on his expertise as an engineer to develop a prototype of a device – called a Personalised External Aortic Root Support (PEARS), pictured above – that could be placed around the ascending aorta and prevent aortic root expansion.

Four years on since conceiving the idea, in 2004 Tal became the first patient to undergo this surgical procedure, which was performed by Professor John Pepper himself.

In this episode of More than a Hospital, Tal and Professor Pepper recall the journey that led to that moment, and how they forged an unexpected partnership to help not only Tal, but the hundreds of lives that the revolutionary procedure would go on to benefit.

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As part of International Women's Day 2024, Episode 5 of 'More than a Hospital' features Dr. Nitha Naqvi (paediatric consultant in cardiology and director of the paediatric cardiac network at Royal Brompton), Dr. Carole Ridge (consultant radiologist at Royal Brompton and honorary senior clinical research fellow at Imperial College London) and Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan (consultant cardiologist at Royal Brompton, associate medical director at British Heart Foundation and reader at Imperial College London), who speak candidly about their career journeys as women in medicine and how far the profession still needs to go to achieve greater inclusivity.

Dr. Naqvi won the Asian Women of Achievement Chairman's Awards in 2019 and was subsequently noted by several national media outlets as an ‘inspiring women leader’. Yet her journey to success has been far from smooth. In an open and honest conversation with Dr Ridge, she names a dismissal due to pregnancy as one of the professional hurdles she has overcome. Meanwhile, Dr Ridge leads the long tumour ablation service which won the ‘Healthcare Outcomes’ at the LaingBuisson awards in 2022. She was recently recognised for her role in interventional radiology service at the National Clinical Impact Awards. However Dr Ridge has also experienced career barriers as a woman and speaks frankly about how a lack of research on pregnant women in radiology led to the premature birth of her baby twins.

Later in the episode we hear from Dr. Babu-Narayan. In 2022 she won an ‘inspiring communicator’ award for campaigning tirelessly on behalf of heart disease patients. She is passionate about the need to better understand women’s cardiac health to ensure better outcomes, and shines a spotlight on the lack of representation of women working in cardiology.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As part of Creativity and Wellbeing Week (Monday 20 to Sunday 26 May), we explore the power that arts can have on physical and mental health.

In episode 8 of More than a Hospital, we go behind the scenes of Royal Brompton and Harefield's arts programme, rb&hArts, as our head of communications, Luke Blair, visits Harefield Hospital to attend ‘singing for breathing’, an initiative that gives patients techniques through vocal exercises and song to help manage their breathing. Largely aimed at patients with respiratory conditions, we meet those who have experienced first-hand the benefits of singing for breathing to their physical and mental wellbeing. We also hear from Rosie Watters who facilitates the sessions.

Also in the episode, Mary Paterson, head of arts at Royal Brompton and Harefield, shares why a personal story about her mother-in-law’s dementia brought the importance of art in a clinical setting to the forefront of her mind.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What links Harefield Hospital so strongly to Australia and New Zealand?

A question not many people may know the answer to, but Harefield wouldn't be one of the leading heart and lung centres it is today without its connection to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served in the First World War.

In this special episode for ANZAC Day 2024, we explore how Harefield Hospital became the No.1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital in treating injured Australians and New Zealanders, and why, one hundred years on, this connection remains so important to Harefield and its staff - including Australian-born Clair Mullins (Theatre Services Manager) and Mark Bowers (Divisional Interventional Lead) who explain what the connection between their workplace and home means to them.

Also in this episode, Sarah Chaney, a historian who led on the Harefield Centenary project, offers fascinating stories from this moment in Harefield’s history – from the special community spirit forged between Harefield villagers and ANZAC soldiers, to the wallabies that would roam around the hospital fields.

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As part of Women’s History Month 2024, Episode 6 of 'More than a Hospital' features Professor Jane Somerville, paediatric cardiologist and Emeritus professor of cardiology at Imperial College London.

During an impressive career that spanned over 40 years, Jane worked at both the National Heart Hospital and the Royal Brompton, helping to successfully establish the grown up congenital heart disease service (GUCH) at both hospitals.

Later in her career, Jane, who became only the second woman to enter the Paediatric Cardiology Hall of Fame, founded the GUCH Patients Association (later renamed the Somerville Heart Foundation) and the inaugural World Congress of Paediatric Cardiology.

In the episode, Jane talks about what it was like to be part of the first cohort of women in training at Guy’s Hospital, her role as the cardiologist for Britain’s first ever heart transplantation in 1968, and the many challenges she faced throughout her career.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.