Meet the PVDU Team
Consultants
Nurse Specialists and Nurses
- Dr Iain Armstrong
- Paul Sephton
- Sian Garrad
Cardiology
We work closely with colleagues in the Department of Cardiology:
Fiona Coates leads the cardiac physiology unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital providing echocardiographic and electrocardiographic support as well as assisting with right heart catheterisation.
Dr Tim Chico is a Consultant Cardiologist who provides assistance with left heart catheterisation.
Dr Jonathan Sahu is a Consultant Cardiologist and provides support for patients requiring electrophysiological management of arrythmias.
Pharmacy
Medication is an essential part of treating Pulmonary Vascular Disease for the majority of patients. The PH Clinical Pharmacy Team make sure that all patients’ medicines are prescribed, supplied and monitored safely and effectively. The team is made up of one Consultant Pharmacist (Neil Hamilton) and two Medicines Management Technicians (Michaela Sellars and Mark Graves), all of whom have worked on the unit since it opened in 2010.
The team provide a service to patients beginning at the point of referral and continuing throughout their time under the care of the Unit. In addition to daily checks of all inpatient prescriptions, the pharmacy team is on hand to help with any outpatient clinic issues related to medication. After discharge, the pharmacy team can be contacted directly by patients, carers and local teams to help and advise with medication problems or queries.
The UK Specialist Pulmonary Hypertension Centres must prescribe and monitor all the specific treatments of Pulmonary Hypertension, so these are delivered to patients through homecare medication delivery partners. Currently nearly 1000 patients have their medicines supplied in this way by the PH Clinical Pharmacy Team in Sheffield. In addition to medication supply, we ensure that all necessary blood tests are undertaken and the results checked. This is essential for the safe prescribing of long-term treatments.
At least one of the team is on the Unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital throughout the working day. Working closely with nursing, medical and other colleagues from the multi-professional team, the Clinical Pharmacy team is integral to patient care.
- Neil Hamilton - Pharmacist
Radiology
We have close working links with physicians and academics in the NHS and University Departments of Radiology:
Christine Davies, Catherine Hill and Steve Thomas are Consultant Radiologists who provide expert support to the unit’s pulmonary vascular radiology meeting.
Professor Jim Wild (NIHR Research Professor in Pulmonary Imaging) and Dr Andy Swift (INSIGNEO Senior Clinical Research Fellow) at the University of Sheffield collaborate closely with us on research in novel MR techniques in pulmonary vascular medicine. Click here to visit the Pulmonary Imaging Group website.
Dave Capener works in the Academic Unit of Radiology, University of Sheffield, and performs and processes the majority of MRs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) performed in the unit.
Respiratory Function Unit – Ward M2 – RHH (Tel 0114 2268744).
The Respiratory Function Unit is a respiratory testing laboratory situated within the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Unit on Ward M2 at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. The lab is performs a wide range of pulmonary function, exercise and sleep physiology tests, and is closely linked to the Respiratory Physiology Department based across the city at the Northern General Hospital. The Respiratory Function Unit provides all pulmonary function tests for patients with Pulmonary Hypertension and is responsible for seeing inpatients and outpatients within the Pulmonary Vascular Disease Unit. It also provides a service for all other inpatient wards at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
The Unit also supports research which is essential to help us continually develop and improve the care and treatment of people with Pulmonary Hypertension and patients visitng the PVDU.
Click here for further information about the Respiratory Physiology Department.