Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

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Thank you to North Central London - Integrated Care System and North Central London Cancer Alliance for hosting the first ever North Central London Cancer Conference recently. It was a brilliant conference and we were delighted that our group chief executive Pete Landstrom was invited to take part in a panel. Cancer care is one of our three main group clinical priorities and we receive almost 500,000 suspected cancer referrals every year so events like this help us to focus on our patients through sharing ideas, promoting population health, early diagnosis and innovative treatment. You can learn more about how cancer plays a crucial role in our clinical strategy on our website here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eXNG48-d

We've hosted our first liver critical care conference! Over 100 clinicians from around the UK on Friday learned more about our specialist intensive care for patients with liver disease. Dr Brian Hogan, Harriet Goudie and Claire Demdam, pictured, helped organise the event.

Patients at Barnet Hospital (BH) are set to benefit from a brand new urgent treatment centre (UTC) which is now open as part of the urgent and emergency care redevelopment project. The upgrade to the UTC formed the first phase of the redevelopment and has seen it move into a new dedicated space which is better equipped to treat more patients in the right place at the right time. The UTC is now located at the front entrance of the hospital to improve patient flow, in line with national guidance. Patients who attend on foot will be triaged in the UTC and can be transferred to the emergency department if needed. It comprises a new large, dedicated waiting area, a paediatric waiting room as well as two GP rooms and three emergency nurse practitioner rooms, which have been equipped with them in mind to better support their ability to triage, diagnose and treat patients. This will also help with the target of 35% of patients presenting to hospital being treated through the UTC. There is also an ad hoc room that can be used by the team should they have the capacity to take on extra workload. Collage of the new UTC waiting room and recliner bays Deborah Sanders, chief executive of BH said: “The opening of the new UTC is comes at a really exciting time for Barnet Hospital which has identified ageing well and transforming same day and integrated care as its two clinical strategy priorities. "A key part of that is to ensure care happens at the right time and place, and to allow specialists to diagnose and treat patients on the same day of arrival where possible. "The new UTC will help with those aims, freeing up hospital beds for those that need them the most." The next phase of the UEC development will see the refurbishment of the ambulance handover area and the creation of new mental health rooms. We will share more details of this phase soon. The full redevelopment is expected to conclude in spring 2025.

Emergency department staff at the Royal Free Hospital are benefitting from a staff room revamp thanks to the generosity of Royal Free Charity and their donors. Last winter, the charity asked for help to fund a suite of improvements for staff and patients in the emergency and urgent care departments at Barnet, Chase Farm and the Royal Free hospitals. As well as projects to improve the experience of patients, the charity wanted to renovate staff areas to create a more restful environment for busy staff on breaks during their 12-hour shifts. The amazing response from our local communities means the brilliant charity is funding multiple projects at all three hospitals and we recently saw the opening of the newly-refurbished staff room at the Royal Free Hospital. Thank you to the charity and their generous donors.

A new type of therapy which ‘edits’ a gene in patients with a rare heart condition has been shown to be safe and effective, according to research from the Royal Free Hospital and UCL published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The therapy, which uses the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR/Cas9 technology, works by inactivating a gene in the liver which is responsible for production of a protein called transthyretin. People with transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis have a build up of misfolded transthyretin protein (known as amyloid) in their hearts which causes symptoms of heart failure. As well as breathlessness and fatigue (heart failure symptoms) the disease often causes numbness in the hands and can lead to patients feeling dizzy or to collapse. As the condition gets progressively worse, it leads to immobility and is ultimately fatal. Most of the treatment options currently available to patients involve managing the symptoms and slowing down the progression of the disease. Patients on the trial received the CRISPR/Cas9-based ‘gene editing’ therapy via a one-off intravenous infusion. The molecule inactivates the transthyretin gene within liver cells resulting in production of only negligible quantities of the transthyretin protein. The phase 1 study of the CRISPR/Cas9 treatment showed that it is safe in the short to medium term and, furthermore, revealed promising results in terms of its efficacy. Of the 36 patients who received the treatment, many of whom had advanced symptoms of heart failure at the beginning of the study, the vast majority reported that their condition had stopped getting worse or had improved 12 months later. Lead author of the study, Professor Marianna Fontana from the National Amyloidosis Centre at the Royal Free Hospital and UCL Division of Medicine, said she was thrilled with the results. “It’s really promising news for people with this awful condition,” she said. “The hope is that, in patients diagnosed in the early stage of the disease, this treatment will offer the prospect of preserving a good quality of life without the need for ongoing therapy.” Senior author, Professor Julian Gillmore from the National Amyloidosis Centre at the Royal Free Hospital and UCL Division of Medicine, said: “This trial establishes for the first time that a gene can be selectively, safely and permanently inactivated in the human body which is an exciting prospect for treatment and possibly even prevention of a range of diseases in the future.’’ Professors Fontana and Gillmore are currently running a global phase 3 trial involving more than 700 patients, the results of which will firmly establish whether the treatment is effective.

Have you ever heard of a genetic counsellor? Emily Dixon, principle genetic counsellor, explains her role within the national amyloidosis centre (NAC) 👇 I first joined the trust’s NAC in September this year, after working in regional genetic services for the last eight years. My role involves providing support and advice to patients and families with hereditary amyloidosis. Genetic counsellors provide information and support to individuals and families affected by genetic conditions. We help navigate complex information and challenging questions to help patients understand their family history, consider genetic testing options, and empower and support them to make informed health decisions. In my role as a genetic counsellor, I am trained to explain inheritance patterns, arrange genomic testing, address psychological and ethical issues, and help patients adapt to their results. It’s a very specialised role with just over 300 genetic counsellors in the UK, and the majority are working within the NHS. Most genetic counsellors work in regional clinical genomic services, but some, including myself, are focussed on specific diseases and embedded within highly specialist services, such as the NAC. The role is ever evolving and includes educating other healthcare professionals, working with multi-disciplinary teams, research, and advocating for patients. I’m excited to bring genetic counselling to such a specialist service. Not only do I hope to help patients and families, but also gain new knowledge and skills, and contribute to showing how genetic counsellors can have an important role in mainstream and specialist services. Since joining the trust, I’ve already learnt so much about amyloidosis and the complexities in the genetics underlying some forms of the condition. I look forward to teaching more about my role and genetics to the wider team and in turn become more specialised in this field. I have just started to see patients in clinic and find this the most gratifying part of my job. It has been so rewarding to bring my skill set to this role and carve out a genetic counselling clinic within the NAC. Rare diseases is a local priority within our strategy for the Royal Free Hospital. You can learn more about our clinical strategies on our website 👇 https://lnkd.in/eVvyiBRy

Cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of death in the UK and within north London, which is why cardiovascular care forms a key cornerstone of our clinical strategy. Our brilliant vascular department is a leading unit in the management of complex aortic disease, specialising in keyhole and open surgery for aortic aneurysms. The Royal Free Hospital has the largest standalone percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) site in London, and it carries out around 1,500 invasive procedures each year with the help of our fantastic teams. You can learn more about our cardiovascular clinical strategy on our website 👇 https://lnkd.in/eN25pUg9

We are proud of the rich and diverse history of our trust 👏

Join us at our next Medicine for Members’ event, ‘Building healthier communities’ on Monday 18 November at 6pm. You will have the chance to hear from our expert clinicians about how we are encouraging our staff, patients and the public, to stay healthy and avoid illness. It is predicted that more than nine million people in England will be living with a major illness such as cancer, diabetes, and kidney disease by 2040. This is an increase of 2.5 million people compared to 2019. Improving the health and wellbeing of the communities that we serve is at the heart of our five-year clinical vision. Our dedicated population health team is working beyond our hospital sites, helping to prevent disease and reduce health inequalities, bringing the best of the NHS to all our patients. During this event, our expert panel of clinicians will showcase the amazing work of our teams as well as share top tips on staying healthy. Attendees will also have the chance to have their questions answered during an interactive Q&A session. This event is free and open to staff, patients, carers, and members of the public as well as our trust members. It will be streamed online using Microsoft Teams. To book your place or to submit a question, please email our membership team at rf.membership@nhs.net. Our Medicine for Members’ events are hosted by our governors and focus on topics which are important to patients, staff and the local community.