Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has entered a seven-year managed service agreement with Philips with the aim of combining the latest technology for integrated cardiovascular solutions to deliver lower care costs, more positive health outcomes and a better experience for all concerned.

Leeds Cardiac Clinical Services Unit is a local care provider and an international specialism centre and operates an aspirational international innovation programme benefiting cardiology patients worldwide by developing cutting-edge techniques to meet challenging patient presentations. The agreement with Philips includes six fully featured interventional cardiac suites based on the Philips Azurion platform, including two specialized electrophysiology suites and a structural heart suite, as well as advanced patient monitoring and ultrasound systems. The Azurion platform provides an intuitive, seamless approach for minimally invasive procedures that will support Leeds’ clinicians to focus on treating the patient, and its administrators as they strive to improve productivity and efficiency through intelligent resource management.

“We look forward to being able to provide state-of-the-art cardiac imaging as part of a highly efficient and forward-looking cardiology service for the people of Leeds and West Yorkshire. We also look forward to a positive and collaborative working relatio“

General Manager of Philips UK & Ireland, Neil Mesher, said: "Cardiovascular disease is one of the world’s leading causes of death and in the UK we are now seeing more people dying of heart disease at younger ages than in previous years. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown what we can achieve when we combine our collective resources to combat an urgent, complex challenge. It’s with this spirit that we look forward to working side-by-side with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to improve the region’s cardiac health.”

Clinical Director for Cardiology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Dr Chris Pepper, said: “The Cardiology team at Leeds Teaching Hospitals are very proud of the quality of cardiac care we are able to deliver for our patients. We see this partnership as a hugely exciting and positive opportunity to improve this further. We look forward to being able to provide state-of-the-art cardiac imaging as part of a highly efficient and forward-looking cardiology service for the people of Leeds and West Yorkshire. We also look forward to a positive and collaborative working relationship with Philips. We are now working through the backlog of patients and other challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to keep services running and have been supported through our partnership with Philips including in reorganizing lab allocations and maintaining patient flow, which has been of substantial benefit. Our cath labs are an essential part of our operations, so when two of our systems recently needed urgent repair, we were happy that Philips was able to resolve the issues without impact on our daily workflow. Our state-of-the-art ultrasound systems have also helped us maintain efficiency after the first wave of COVID-19 patients and will help streamline and facilitate further recovery.”