Cardiology

If you have an upcoming clinic appointment with your Cardiologist or Heart Failure Nurse, you should assume that you DO NOT need to attend in person.

You will receive notification that this will now be conducted virtually over the telephone. In exceptional circumstances, if a after a telephone review, it is felt that you definitely need to be seen in person, you may be asked to attend the City of Coventry Health Centre for a face to face clinic.

If hospital treatment is necessary and you need admission on our cardiology ward it is useful for you to know that our ward has temporarily moved from ward10 to ward 42.

Ward 42 is fully operational to provide the safest cardiology care possible, and we will aim to discharge you as soon as possible with follow up care in the community setting.

Blood tests

You may be asked to have a blood test, this can be arranged at your home depending on your risk, or attending your usual blood taking department.

We would advise pre-booking your blood test to avoid waiting longer in these locations. We understand patients are anxious about attending for blood tests, but for some patients the risk of harm from not having blood test monitoring is higher than the likelihood of contracting the virus.

We will only ask you to have a blood test if it is absolute necessary.

Heart Failure Medications

It is especially important for you at this time to take your prescribed medications regularly and not run out of supply of these lifesaving drugs.

You may have read articles in the press or social media that some Heart Failure and high blood pressure medications such as Angiotensin Converting Enzyme inhibitors (ACEi or medicines ending in ‘pril’) and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARB or medicines ending in ‘sartan’) could worsen Covid-19.

There is currently no evidence to support this speculation. We therefore advise you to continue these medications, as they are essential for the treatment of your Heart Failure or high blood pressure. This advice is supported by and in keeping with the advice from the following learned societies:

• Joint British Cardiovascular Society and British Society for Heart Failure.  
• European Society of Cardiology Council on Hypertension

Coventry Community Heart Failure Nurses – 0300 3032444

Rugby Heart Failure Nurses – 01788 663944

UHCW Acute Heart Failure Nurses – 02476 96581

Our Cardiac department is a leading centre for the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with a wide range of heart conditions.  We specialise in areas such as:

• Arrhythmia

• Cardiac Imaging

• Cardiac Research

• Congenital Heart

• Heart Failure

• Obstetric Cardiology

• 24/7 PPCI service

Our department includes a team of Cardiac Nurse Practioners who are based in ED to assess and review cardiac patients, a 26-bedded Cardiology ward, 10-bedded Coronary Care Unit, and a three-bedded, six-trollied Cardiology Day Unit plus a newly refurbished six-chair Radial Lounge for elective patients. Integral to the department is our team of Cardiac Physiologists performing diagnostic tests for outpatients and inpatients from all areas.

We have four permanent cath labs at our Coventry site and a mobile cath lab at our Hospital of St Cross site. Within these labs we perform such procedures as:

• Diagnostic Angiograms, Left and Right Heart Caths

• Percutanious Cardiac Intervention – CTO/Rotablation/IVUS/OCT

• Primary PCI 24/7 for heart attack patients

• Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI)/Balloon Aortic Valvuplasty

• Permanent Pacemakers and Devices - Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT-P/CRT-P), ICD therapy

• Electrophysiology Studies and ablation including , AF, SVT, VT ablation and Cryo ablation

We pride ourselves on supporting and developing all professions within the department.  We have specialist nurses in:

• Arrhythmia

• Adult Congential Heart Disease

• Cardiac Rehab

• Cardiac Research

• Heart Failure

• Injectable Loop Recorder Nurse Implanters

We are constantly looking for ways to improve and develop the service provided and are often looking for new, dynamic people to join our ever-expanding team.

Waiting time information for outpatient appointments at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust is now available by clicking here.

Coventry University Hospital is a Level 3 specialist Centre for Adult Congenital Heart Disease. We are part of the West Midlands ACHD network, and we are linked with Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, sharing care, MDT discussions and complex patients.

Congenital Heart Diseases are conditions present from birth, and the current prevalence worldwide is around 9 per 1000 newborns.  

Virtually all congenital heart disease patients will require long-term monitoring, follow-up and at times, may require further intervention.

We currently offer our services to patients born with congenital heart defects aged 16 and over.

Our services include:

• Transition Clinics (first clinic in adult services to meet the team and discuss the condition)

• Ongoing surveillance via face to face or virtual clinics

• Complex Imaging Services specialised in congenital heart disease (for example: CMRI, TOE, CT)

• Diagnostic services (e.g. ECHO, Holter)

• Maternal Cardiology including pre pregnancy counselling and care during pregnancy

• Genetic screening for inherited cardiac conditions

• Joint multidisciplinary team discussions with Birmingham (Level 1 centre in ACHD)

Our team:

Doctor Dawn Adamson, Clinical lead for ACHD and Obstetric Cardiology Services

Consultant Interventional Cardiologist

National Speciality advisor for Heart disease for NHS England

President of the UK Maternal Cardiac Society
 

Albiona Zhupaj, Adult Congenital Heart Disease Specialist Nurse

Greta Talone, Adult Congenital Heart Disease Specialist Nurse

Our Contact Details:

Telephone: 02476 965143

Email: achdnurses@uhcw.nhs.uk

Secretary: 02476 965654