The heart attack team at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, has been shortlisted for the ‘Cardiovascular Team of the Year’ award at the 2013 BMJ Group Improving Health Awards.

The shortlist for this prestigious category recognises cardiovascular medicine teams, who, with constantly evolving treatments are translating knowledge into improved care for patients suffering from heart and circulatory diseases. The St George’s team is one of only five teams who have been shortlisted nationally for this category.

The team, who have been in place since July 2011, is made up of doctors and nurses from cardiology, anaesthetics and intensive care. This multidisciplinary approach to patient care has greatly improved outcomes and survival rates for patients who have suffered a heart attack as patients are given immediate emergency and intensive care treatment as soon as they are brought into hospital.

St George’s Hospital is one of the biggest and busiest of the seven specialist heart attack centres in the capital, serving the southwest London population and, since March 2011, patients from across east Surrey. It provides emergency care, diagnosis, medical treatment and outpatient services for all heart disorders. The heart attack centre provides a 24-hour emergency angioplasty service, enabling life-saving treatment to be given to heart attack patients.

The awards ceremony will take place in May. For more information, visit http://groupawards.bmj.com.

Notes to editors

For more information and for high resolution photography, please contact the Communications Unit on 020 8725 5151 or email: communications@stgeorges.nhs.uk. Outside working hours, please page us by calling 0844 822 2888, leaving a short message and contact details for pager SG548. High res photos available on request.