Cardiac surgery services at St George’s Hospital are safe
We are expecting reports in the media on Saturday (4 August) about cardiac surgery at St George’s Hospital.
Ahead of this, we want to reassure patients and their families that our cardiac surgery services are safe – and anyone scheduled to visit St George’s for cardiac surgery should continue to attend as they normally would.
Improving our cardiac surgery service
Whilst cardiac surgery at St George’s is safe, we know improvements need to be made. We recently requested an external review of cardiac surgery at the Trust, which was carried out by an independent expert, and concluded last month.
Since then, we have been implementing the review’s recommendations at pace. This includes tackling serious issues with staff behaviours and team working in the cardiac surgery unit. We have been clear from the outset that the status quo cannot continue.
As part of this, we are pleased that cardiac surgeons from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust have agreed to provide us with clinical leadership support from Monday. Further improvements will be delivered over the coming days, weeks and months, under the leadership of a Cardiac Task Force established by the Trust.
Further information for patients
As stated above, cardiac surgery services at St George’s are safe, and patients with appointments and operations should continue to attend as they normally would.
However, as always, if you are a patient and have any questions/queries, please call the number on your appointment or operation letter, or contact our Patient Advice and Liaison (PALS) team during office hours on 020 8725 2453/email pals@stgeorges.nhs.uk
Media enquiries only should be made to the out of hours hospital press office.
