THE HEART OF THE MATTER
How PAPWORTH HOSPITAL transformed modern heart and lung care
PETER PUGH
Published in the UK in 2015 by
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ISBN: 978-184831-942-4
Text copyright 2015 Peter Pugh
The author has asserted his moral rights.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter Pugh was educated at Oundle and Cambridge, where he read History. He has written more than 50 official histories, including The Magic of a Name, a three-volume history of Rolls-Royce. He lives in Cambridge and Norfolk.
FOREWORD
by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester
W e are fortunate to live in a country where a tradition has been built over many decades, if not centuries, of encouraging our finest brains to research into all matters medical. Consequently, Great Britain features prominently in many fields and the best researchers choose to come from all over the world to join our leading teams. Luckily, the general public enjoy contributing generously to projects where they can foresee the consequence of their support; nevertheless, it is essential that government funds also back these schemes.
Papworth Hospital has been an important element in this proud story. The 100 years that we are celebrating in this book demonstrate the battle against tuberculosis a battle largely won, and the attention subsequently turned to organ transplants, pioneered at Papworth and now practised all over the world.
I hope that when the hospital moves to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in the near future, it will not lose its many friends and supporters, who can be proud of the fact that a small place like Papworth should have such a big reputation internationally. I have no doubt that the high standards forever expected of its dedicated team of consultants, physicians, surgeons, nursing staff and support services and many more, will continue to provide life-changing, and in some cases lifelong, care for people who would otherwise struggle with their day-to-day lives, due to debilitating cardiothoracic conditions, and that the world will continue to notice Papworth Hospitals contribution to medical science for a long time to come.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester,
Patron of Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust,
August 2015
INTRODUCTION
Papworth Hospital is a unique place.
This book documents how it has grown and adapted since its beginnings as an innovative TB sanatorium long before the majority of treatments we now take for granted were thought of.
It is now the largest heart and lung hospital in the UK and this evolution has taken place over the last 100 years on the same site.
But Papworth is not just a place, its all about people, the patients whom the hospital treats and the staff who care deeply how that treatment is delivered. There is an intangible atmosphere of trust and sense of security which patients perceive, as well as a loyalty among all members of staff that is engendered. This combines to give Papworth a culture and ethos that sets it apart.
As we approach the 100-year anniversary and the move to our new hospital happens in the same year, it is that culture which we have to transfer as well as the technical, medical and surgical expertise. This will ensure Papworth continues to give the best of care to all our patients.
With the development of a world-class research and education institute alongside the hospital we will maintain the world renown and reputation which Papworth has deservedly earned.
Professor John Wallwork CBE
August 2015
AUTHORS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T he history of Papworth Hospital, The Heart of the Matter, was a particularly challenging, but fascinating, story to research and write and many people were helpful in allowing me to interview them and then, in some cases, checking that what I had written was accurate.
I would like to thank especially Stephen Bridge, the Chief Executive, and Professor John Wallwork, a long-serving consultant surgeon at Papworth Hospital and currently Chairman of the Board of Directors. They gave me the list of interviewees and read and corrected my draft manuscripts.
These were the interviewees, all of whom were most helpful:
Sir Terence English, John Dunning, Simon Fynn, Peter Schofield, Charles Haworth, John Shneerson, Bill Newsom, Julia Fleming, Stephen Large, Samer Nashef, Francis Wells, Ian Hardy, Alain Vuylsteke, Chris Flower, Keith McNeil, Susan Stewart, David Stone, Bob Verney, Michael Petch, Mrs Ellen Kemp, Celia Hyde, Natalie Doughty, Donna Ward and Hazel Farren.
Sir Terence English also provided a great deal of important archive material. (As it happens, Sir Terence and I were on a parent/teachers committee at St Johns College Prep School at the time he carried out the first UK heart transplant.)
On the administrative side, many were very helpful, especially Barbara Gamble, Rebecca Proctor, Roger Hall, Daniel Saxton, Colin Lattimore, Hazel Crawford, Craig Mackenzie and Rachel Allen.
As always, when my books are published by Icon Books Ltd, the Editorial Director, Duncan Heath, masterminded the copy-editing, proof-reading and indexing. The cover design and organisation of the photographs were handled by Oliver Pugh of Simmons Pugh.
Peter Pugh, August 2015
MONETARY VALUES
M oney and its value is always a problem when writing about a period that stretches over a number of years, particularly when parts of that period have included some years of very high inflation. Furthermore, establishing a yardstick for measuring the change in the value of money is not easy either. Do we take the external value of the or what it will buy in the average (whatever that may be) weekly shopping basket? Do we relate it to the average manual wage? As we know, while prices in general might rise, and have done so in Britain every year since the Second World War, the prices of certain products might fall. However, we are writing about a hospital, which, in some ways, is like a business, and money and its value crop up regularly. We therefore have to make some judgements. We can only generalise, and I think the best yardstick is probably the average working wage.
