If you are an existing ACHD patient, find out more about recent changes
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a heart condition present from birth. As one of the most common birth defects in the UK, it affects approximately 8 in every 1,000 babies born, and with advances in paediatric cardiac surgery and cardiology, over 90% of babies born with CHD survive to adulthood. As a result, there are more adult patients with CHD than paediatric patients.
Care for all ages
At Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals, we practice using a vertical model, which means caring for CHD patients of all ages within one service: from pre-birth (fetal), younger children (paediatric) to adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD). We strongly believe that structuring care this way provides continuity and helps you navigate the health services as you move through life's challenges and milestones.
In our centre, we have also developed several other services that are important for CHD patients, including the pulmonary hypertension (PH) and pregnancy and heart disease services.
All patients with CHD, whether simple or more complex, benefit from expert care throughout their lives. How often you will need to go to hospital appointments depends on your current condition. Your medical team will give you more information about your heart and make a management plan with you, including how often you need to go to the ACHD clinics.
Going to your appointment
It is extremely important that you attend your planned appointment, even when you feel well because there could be changes to your heart that you may not be aware of. If you haven't received an appointment for a follow up at the ACHD clinic, please contact our appointments office, or your consultant's secretary to help arrange your next appointment.
Appointment enquiries: 0207 351 8011 (Royal Brompton) 01895 828 696 (Harefield) or your consultant's secretary
The ACHD team
Our team includes:
- 6 full-time ACHD consultants, three full-time PH consultants, and two full-time consultants working across both ACHD and PH
- 1 ACHD, and two PH consultants also work in the team as part of our joint working with Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospital
- 1 academic consultant in cardiac ACHD MRI
- 1 consultant lead in ACHD echocardiography
- 4 full-time congenital cardiac surgeons, including neonatal, paediatric, and ACHD surgeons
- 2 consultant electrophysiologists with a special interest in ACHD
- 5 clinical nurse specialists (CNS), 3 CNS in PH, and three CNS in CHD transition
- 1 clinical psychologist
This is in addition to an extended group of specialists in imaging, anaesthetics, surgery, interventional cardiology and electrophysiology (arrhythmias).
There are close clinical and academic ties between the ACHD and paediatric cardiology department, providing seamless care from childhood to adulthood.
ACHD consultant and specialist team
Professor Michael A Gatzoulis (clinical and academic lead, ACHD)
Professor Konstantinos (Kostas) Dimopoulos (ACHD and pulmonary hypertension)
Dr Aleksander Kempny (lead consultant for catheter interventions for ACHD & PH)
Dr Isma Rafiq (ACHD, lead for pregnancy, and heart disease, cardiac MRI)
Dr Claudia Montanaro (ACHD, MRI and pregnancy)
Dr Harith Alam (ACHD, pregnancy and ACHD networks)
Dr Fernando Riesgo (heart failure and transplantation)
Professor Wei Li (consultant and lead in ACHD echocardiography)
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan (consultant and academic lead in ACHD MRI)
Dr Justyna Rybicka (locum, ACHD and heart failure)
Dr Ee Ling Heng (locum, ACHD and pregnancy)
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) consultant team
Dr John Wort (lead pulmonary hypertension)
Professor Michael A Gatzoulis (clinical and academic lead, ACHD)
Professor Konstantinos (Kostas) Dimopoulos (ACHD and pulmonary hypertension)
Dr Aleksander Kempny (lead consultant for catheter interventions for ACHD & PH)
Dr Colm McCabe (joint lead for non-invasive exercise testing, and PH)
Dr Laura Price (pulmonary hypertension, joint Trust PE and non-cardiac PH-pregnancy lead, PH-COVID19 clinic lead))
Professor Wei Li (consultant and lead in ACHD echocardiography)
Dr Aimee Brame (PH and intensive care)
Dr Bhashkar Mukherjee (PH and respiratory medicine)
ACHD surgical team
Professor Darryl F Shore (cardiac surgery)
Mr Andreas Hoschtitzky (cardiac surgery)
ACHD cardiac catheter intervention team
Dr Aleksander Kempny (consultant for catheter interventions for ACHD & PH)
Professor Alain Fraisse
Dr Michael Rigby
Arrhythmias and Pacing (Electrophysiology)
Prof Sabine Ernst (arrhythmias)
Dr Tom Wong (arrhythmias and pacing)
Clinical nurse specialist (CNS) team
- Hajar Habibi (Lead)
- Clare Finlay
- Ella McDonnell
- Carlo Tongol
- Melissa Hackett
PH clinical nurse specialist (CNS) team
- Carl Harries (lead CNS for PH)
- Stuart Craig
- Eva Moriarty
CHD transition (age 12-21 years) clinical nurse specialist (CNS) team
- Virginia Castro Meira (lead nurse for fetal, paediatric and transition CNS teams)
- Loredana Haidu
- Danielle Poole
- Michelle Lambell
Patient education
Patient education and empowerment are important components of the ACHD service. The clinical nurse practitioners coordinate education and patient involvement. Patients and their family can also explore the educate and empower series for ACHD patients.
Advice and education cover lifestyle issues such as contraception, insurance, employment and sport. Patients and their families also find additional support from patient groups such as The Somerville Foundation or the British Heart Foundation.
Transition CHD service
Our hospitals have one of the most developed transition services in the country, providing education and support to young people with CHD and ensuring a smooth transition from paediatric to ACHD services.
If you are the parent/carer of a child over the age of 12, who will soon transition to adult care, find out more. If you are are over 12 and want to find out more about transitioning to the adult ward, find out more.
Contraception
Family planning is important to many of our ACHD patients. Find out more about different contraception, their effectiveness and any side effects they have when combined with other contraceptives or other medication.
Pregnancy
We also provide obstetric and gynaecological care for patients with CHD. This is provided jointly with the high-risk maternity team from Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.
New developments
- Advanced ACHD heart failure and transplantation clinics are run jointly with the transplant team from Harefield Hospital
- A risk stratification service for serious arrhythmias is run by the ACHD, MRI and electrophysiology teams
- We have developed specialist ACHD-PH/Eisenmenger clinics throughout our network, run by experts in ACHD and PH
- National and international preceptorships run on a yearly basis, providing education for UK and overseas ACHD and PH consultants
Information for existing patients
If you are already a patient with us, you will be aware that two of the unit’s doctors, Lorna Swan and Rafael Alonso-Gonzalez, left in 2018 to take up positions at the University of Toronto, Canada. We understand that this may have been an unsettling time for many but we continue to provide the high level of care you deserve as our ACHD patient.
As a result, we have had to make some changes to clinic arrangements. If you have any concerns about this or any other queries, please contact us on: 0207 351 8764.
These changes do not apply to the rest of ACHD and/or PH clinics. In the meantime, we do anticipate further changes and improvements throughout 2019 as we recruit new consultants and clinical nurse specialists (CNS), to support the service.
We remain committed to providing the best care for you and will keep you up-do-date with any further changes.
COVID-19
Information on COVID-19 for existing ACHD patients can be found here.
Clinic information
Our ACHD clinics now run:
Mondays
- Dr Isma Rafiq's clinc runs in the morning at Royal Brompton Hospital
- Dr Harith Alam's clinic runs in the afternoon at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals
Tuesday
- Professor Michael Gatzoulis' ACHD video clinic runs in the afternoon
Wednesday
- Dr Aleksander Kempny's ACHD clinic runs in the afternoon at Royal Brompton Hospital
Thursday
- Dr Justyna Rykbicka's clinic runs in the afternoon at Harefield Hospital (former Dr Alonso's Thursday afternoon clinic)
- Professor Dimopoulos' ACHD clinic runs on Thursday afternoon at Royal Brompton Hospital
Friday
- Dr Claudia Montanaro’s ACHD clinic runs on Friday morning at Royal Brompton Hospital (former Professor Gatozulis’ clinic. Some patients traditionally seen in the Friday morning ACHD clinic will be invited to attend a Tuesday clinic.
We are committed to providing patients with the best possible care. If you have any queries about these clinic changes, please contact the ACHD team by emailing achd@rbht.nhs.uk or calling 0207 351 8764.
Education & research
As well as being a major research facility for CHD and cardiac surgery, our ACHD centre also provides national and international specialised training for cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, and allied disciplines.
Specialist international clinical fellows are an integral part of our centre and contribute to the worldwide reputation of the organisation.
National and international meetings in the field – coordinated from Royal Brompton and the National Heart & Lung Institute – are also an integral part of the programme's academic curriculum. Find out more about Royal Brompton's 12th advanced symposium on ACHD.
Members of Royal Brompton Hospital's ACHD centre are sought-after conference speakers and contributors to major literature in this emerging cardiovascular field. The team strives to share its learning with colleagues worldwide and has produced numerous highly regarded textbooks and articles.
Contact us
Adult congenital heart disease centre and centre for pulmonary arterial hypertension
Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals, Sydney Street, London, SW3 6NP
Write to us: Royal Brompton, Sydney Street, London SW3 6NP
Appointment enquiries: 0207 351 8011 (Royal Brompton) 01895 828 696 (Harefield) or your consultant's secretary
Clinical Nurse Specialist Team (Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm)
CHD Adult Team (patient age >21yo) – Tel: 0207 351 8764, Email: achd@rbht.nhs.uk
CHD Transition Team (patient age: 16 - 21yo) – Tel: 0330 128 8772, Email: transitionchd@rbht.nhs.uk
Out of hours emergency: call us direct on 020 7352 8121 and ask for the on-call ACHD team, or visit your local accident and emergency department and ask them to liaise with our on-call ACHD team.