Heart Ops Suspended at Papworth

By Sadie Gray

Heart transplant operations have been suspended at the specialist Papworth Hospital following a rise in patient death rates.

An investigation by the health watchdog for England has begun after seven of the 20 adults to undergo a heart transplant there this year died within 30 days of the operation.

Stephen Bridge, Papworth’s chief executive, said: “It’s expected 10 per cent of heart transplant patients die within 30 days. We’ve normally been around 7 per cent, so below the national average.

“We are talking comparatively small numbers but it was agreed it would be sensible for us to invite the Healthcare Commission to undertake an external review.”

The review is expected to take up to two weeks, during which heart transplants would be “paused”, the hospital said. Papworth, near Cambridge, is one of five hospitals in the UK which carry out heart transplants. The hospital’s statement added: “Heart transplants are inherently high-risk, complex procedures performed on a relatively small number of patients and the number of operations likely to be affected is therefore small.”

Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was among only 5 per cent of trusts in England to score the highest rating for both the quality of its services and its use of resources in the Healthcare Commission’s annual NHS performance ratings for 2006-07.

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