Arrhythmia Alliance Excellence In Practice Awards

The Arrhythmia Alliance Excellence In Practice Awards were awarded in three categories:

Innovation Category

Winner
Sue Armstrong & Julia Burdon

Sue and Julia have developed and evaluated an innovative rehabilitation programme for individuals receiving an ICD offered immediately 1 month after implant. Preliminary results suggest that the approach results in improved capacity and psychological well-being. The new approach uniquely delivered improvements in physical activity, Quality of Life (QOL) and self-efficacy.

Highly Commended
Gaynor Evans and team

The nominees have been central to the design, development and implementation of a new model of specialist EP service provision that could be applied widely nationally. This model allows a single cardiologist together with a team with limited specialist experience to provide a comprehensive high quality and high volume EP service within a DGH. They have designed a staged approach to their own training and that of others that has proved highly effective in allowing the continued growth and development of the service. They have promoted excellence in arrhythmia understanding and care throughout the region.

Dr Matthew Fay and the Westcilffe Cardiology Service

Dr Fay and his colleagues have succeeded in providing a high quality, rapid access service for arrhythmia patients. This service has now been made available to all practices in the Bradford and Airedale PCT.

The service, through “Choose and Book” offers a multi tiered service so that the clinicians can select the functions most suited to their patient’s needs and the clinician’s personal skills. It offers locality 12 lead ECG for patients of practice not offering that service. It also offers detailed interpretation of the trace or its possible significance to the patient.

Education/Research

Winner
Richard Charles and the Cardiac Network Devices Survey Group

The Network Device Survey Group, supported by the Department of Health, the British Cardiovascular Society, Medtronic Ltd and individual Cardiac Networks made public in late 2006 the first systematic survey of the National Health Service in England and Wales in respect of its level and equity of cardiac device provision compared to local relative need, and the Group’s survey work is continuing this year with full support of the heart improvement team.

Highly Commended
Gerry Kaye

In 1994, Gerry established a teaching course intended for junior trainees and specialist ECG technicians. The aim was to try to demystify electrophysiology and to encourage trainee registrars to consider electrophysiology as an interesting and viable specialty.

Julia Neale

Julia is the clinical lead for the education for health and atrial fibrillation module, which has been developed specifically for people working in primary care. When the AF chapter of the NSF for CHD was launched much was made of the fact that primary care clinicians needed to be involved in the diagnosis, treatment and management of people with AF and yet there was a lack of basic clinical education available for these clinicians.

Outstanding Achievement

Dr Adam Fitzpatrick

Lifetime Achievement

Dr Richard Sutton

Young Investigators Awards

Six Young Investigator finalists were chosen to give oral presentations at HRC 2007:

  • Dr JP de Bono (Oxford). Failure of exercise-induced enhancement of autonomic control of cardiac rhythm in the absence of neuronal nitric oxide synthase.
  • Dr N Cromie (Belfast). The impedance cardiogram recorded through 2 electrocardiogram/defibrillator pads as a determinant of cardiac arrest in experimental and clinical studies.
  • Dr Kirubakaran (Manchester) . Cause and consequence of the “second factor” involved in the self-perpetuation of AF.
  • Dr A Lyon (London). Heterogeneous SERCA2a transfection reduces spontaneous and inducible ventricular arrhythmias in the rat post myocardial infarction heart failure model.
  • Dr R Mantravadi (Leicester). At least 2 neurocardiological factors influence spatial heterogeneity and physiological APD restitution on the ventricle; a novel study using innervated heart and optical mapping.
  • Dr I Sabir (Cambridge). Restitution analysis of alternans and its relationship to arrhythmogenicity in hypokalaemic Langendorff-perfused murine hearts.

In addition, 37 abstracts were selected for poster presentation. Ten abstracts were rejected.
The winner of the HRC 2007 Young Investigator’s Award was Dr J P de Bono (Oxford).