Barts and The London Heart and Chest Centre | Your journey of care | Clinics
Clinics
Rapid access chest pain clinic
A rapid access palpitation clinic opened in 2007 to give patients fast access to expert medical care. The clinic examines patients within 24 hours of referral from a GP or A&E department to enable quick diagnosis and treatment.
Patients attending this clinic must be referred to the service by their GP. Click here for referral details.
We are part of one of England’s top rated teaching hospitals so you will benefit from the expertise of our support teams including specialist physiotherapists and dietitians who are on hand to give their expert support and advice.
Heart failure clinic
Heart failure is a medical term that means the heart muscle isn’t able to pump as efficiently as it should. Some patients suffer with conditions affecting the heart muscle directly, or as a result of a heart attack. The symptoms often include tiredness, breathlessness and simply not having the energy to do things.
Our heart failure clinics take place four times a week and are run by specialist nurses, pharmacists and consultants with an interest in heart muscle problems.
The clinic aims to reduce the need for patients with heart failure to be admitted to hospital and help patients self manage their condition. This includes making sure patients have the right doses of medication and help with lifestyle advice like quitting smoking.
The results from the clinics, which take place four times a week, show that most participants at the clinic see improvements to their symptoms and a have a better quality of life. A recent study found that of 44 patients that attended the clinic who were regular smokers when they were first referred, half were encouraged to give up smoking. Seven patients drank more than the recommended weekly intake of alcohol when they first visited the clinic. This dropped to just one.
Almost every patient saw their blood pressure and heart rate improve over the course of their visits - a sign that they are taking the correct medication and are following advice to improve the way they live.
Working with doctors, our nurses and pharmacists ensure that patients receive the right medication at the right doses.
Most patients who come to the clinic see improvements to their symptoms and quality of life.
The clinic also runs several research projects which may be of interest to patients.
Our nursing team for the heart failure clinic came second place for 'Excellence or innovation in heart failure care'. This was awarded by the British Journal of Cardiac Nursing award in 2007.
The team also won the Involvement to Impact Award in 2008 for their specialist services to the Bengali and Samali populations.
Click here for our contact details (please scroll to end of page).
Implantable device (ICD) and pacemaker clinics
All patients fitted with a pacemaker or other implantable device are followed up in our daily pacemaker and ICD clinics. These clinics are amongst the busiest in the UK.
The clinic is based at Barts hospital, West Smithfield. Appointments are needed but patients who have ICDs can ring at any time during working hours if their device has been activated or there is a problem.
Many of our patients are now folllowed up remotely via their telephone line and the internet.
Tel: 020 346 55855
