HCA wins two major Laing and Buisson awards for healthcare outcomes and medical practice

HCA International, which owns London’s six leading private hospitals, has won two ‘firsts’ at the prestigious Laing and Buisson annual Independent Healthcare Awards.

Rosemary Hittinger, Group Director of Clinical Performance and Governance, collected the top prize for the most comprehensive outcome programme in the independent sector and London Bridge Hospital Chief Perfusionist, Alan Rayner and Consultant Cardiologist Dr Cliff Bucknall won the medical practice award for their work on the prevention of blood clots in cardiac patients.

HCA had 11 finalists in 8 categories of award, more than any other healthcare provider.

HCA’s hospitals was a pioneer in releasing outcome data and over recent years it has developed the most comprehensive Outcomes Programme in the acute sector. With healthcare providers coming under increasing scrutiny from patients and their families, regulators and politicians alike, the need for transparency and like for like benchmarking has grown apace.

Rosemary Hittinger said she was delighted that the group’s work had been recognised. “We have invested considerable resource and effort in recent years to develop the most comprehensive of comparable and benchmarked outcomes for patients, relatives, regulators and politicians alike,” she said.

“We will continue to build on our experience with other independent providers with the Hellenic Project,” she said. Rosemary Hittinger is currently leading the group’s Quality Programme.

The Medical Practice Award went to Alan Rayner and Dr Cliff Bucknall at London Bridge Hospital. They have introduced a new combined procedure to identify patients who do not respond to Aspirin and Clopidogrel (Plavix) given to prevent excessive clot formation. Linking platelet function (Multiplate®) and a rapid ‘point of care’ genetic test (Spartan Rx®) has enabled an individualised approach to medication in those patients with a predisposition towards life threatening blood clotting, thus preventing them suffering any ill effects during or after an operation.

“We are thrilled by this award. It’s more recognition that pioneering work is increasingly to be found in the private sector and in our case, the systems we have combined enable cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to prescribe medication with evidence that it is effective – very quickly - for those patients who are shown to be at risk because they do not respond,” he said.

Michael Neeb, President and Chief Executive Officer of HCA International, said, “HCA is committed to providing the highest quality patient care in a safe, clean, compassionate environment, and we are delighted to have once again been recognised by Laing and Buisson in winning the national awards for Healthcare Outcomes and Medical practice. HCA has now won more L+B awards than any other provider.”

Note to Editors

HCA International Limited owns the Capital’s six leading private hospitals all based in central London and each with an international reputation for the highest standards of acute and tertiary care. They are: The Wellington – the largest private hospital in Europe, London Bridge Hospital, The Harley Street Clinic, The Portland Hospital for Women and Children, The Lister Hospital and The Princess Grace Hospital.

HCA also has ten outpatient and diagnostic centres in and around London, a blood and bone cancer treatment joint venture with the NHS at University College Hospital together with a young person’s cancer unit, The London Gamma Knife Centre, another joint venture with the NHS at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Harley Street at Queen’s, a private patient cancer centre at the NHS Queen’s Hospital in Romford. In addition, HCA is developing, with the internationally renowned Christie cancer hospital in Manchester, a new state of the art private patient unit – to be called The Christie Clinic – for cancer patients from across the North of England.

The six HCA hospitals in London treat around 300,000 patients per year. They also specialise in the most complex medical procedures including cardiac care, liver transplantation, inter cranial surgery and complex cancer care. The HCA cancer network, for example, is the largest provider of cancer care in the UK outside the NHS. Uniquely, HCA has its own clinical trials unit based in Harley Street in central London. Medical teams in HCA are involved in research programmes aimed at finding new treatments in areas such as heart disease and cancer.

In recent years HCA has invested over £300 million in capital expenditure including new diagnostic and treatment technology. As an example, HCA installed at The Harley Street Clinic, the UK’s first revolutionary CyberKnife robotic radiotherapy machine, which is able to target previously untreatable tumours.

For more Media Information, please call Neil Huband on 07808 298989 or 020 7436 6372.