Royal Papworth Hospital

03/09/2026

Prioritising your wellbeing 💆‍♀️

The Cambridge Wellness Festival returns to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus next Tuesday 8 September and whether you are NHS staff, patients, visitors or local residents, you are invited.

This free event, organised by CBC Ltd, is held on the Green outside our hospital and sees different health and wellbeing activities, stalls, workshops and expert talks taking place throughout the day from 11:00-18:00.

No booking is required, just drop in whenever you can.

Discover all the activities and exhibitors on the campus website:
https://cambridge-biomedical.com/event/cambridge-wellness-festival-26/

31/08/2026

On this August Bank Holiday Monday, we would like to thank all our staff who have been working or have been on-call over the long weekend.

Thank you for keeping our services running and our patients safe. 🫶🏻

Our thoughts and love also go out to everyone who has friends or family being treated in our hospital at this time. 💙

29/08/2026

Meet Juliet, a deputy sister in our catheter laboratories. 👋

Juliet has worked at Royal Papworth since April 2023, having moved to the UK in her forties to continue her nursing career.

She was recently recognised for achieving her Advanced Life Support (ALS) provider qualification. This achievement reflects her hard work, dedication and commitment to ongoing professional development.

For this achievement she was sent a Laudit by a colleague via our positive incident reporting system, which helps us celebrate the everyday extraordinary of our people. Her Laudit was subsequently pulled out at random as one of five monthly draw winners.

Describing her reaction to this as “ecstatic”, Juliet went on to say “I also feel valued and recognised for the efforts put into my day of hard work.”

“I love the diversity and humility of working with people from all over the world of different backgrounds and expertise. I also love the work that we do and the difference it makes to the lives of our patients and their loved ones.”

“I love that we care about each other, there is always a supportive culture, especially during trying times.”

Many congratulations, Juliet, and keep up the amazing work! 💙

26/08/2026

Named one of UK’s best hospitals for inpatient care 🏥

We are delighted to have been named as one of the best NHS trusts for inpatient care.

The Care Quality Commission Adult Inpatient Survey 2025 captures the experiences of patients who stayed at least one night in hospital, asking patients for their views on all aspects of their care.

We were one of eight hospitals to be rated in the highest possible category – ‘much better than expected’. This reflects the consistently positive feedback from our patients and how we compare to other trusts across the country.

It is the seventh year-in-a-row that our hospital has been named in the top category. On average, patients rated the overall experience as 9.3 out of 10.

Dr Matthew Hodson, our Chief Nursing Officer, said: "We’re delighted to see our patients give such a vote of confidence in our services and care, with many areas showing a considerable improvement on 12 months ago.

“There are and always will be areas where we can do even better. This is part of our deep ambition to continuously improve for our patients and communities.

“But these scores are only possible through the hard work of our talented and dedicated colleagues. I want to thank all of our teams for delivering excellent and compassionate patient care every day, something I’ve seen first-hand since joining the trust earlier this year.”

Thank you to all patients who took the time to complete the survey.

Thank you also to all our teams across the hospital, clinical and non-clinical, who help provide such incredible care. 💙

26/08/2026

24/08/2026

Learn lifesaving skills 🫀

If someone’s heart stops, you could play a vital role in starting the chain of survival before emergency services arrive, giving them the best possible chance of recovery following cardiac arrest.

Our free basic life support training sessions teaches people how to recognise when someone is in cardiac arrest, how to perform effective CPR, how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED) and how to practice these skills in a safe, supportive environment.

These free two-hour sessions, held at the Victor Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute adjacent to our hospital, helped give attendees the skills and confidence to act fast in an emergency.

Feedback from our recent August session was extremely positive and included:

💭 “Clear information, great instructors, so pleased I attended.”
💭 “Excellent facilitators, very happy to take questions and made everyone feel extremely comfortable.”
💭 “An excellent session, thank you so much for giving your time. I hope I never need these skills but now feel much more confident in using them.”
💭 “It’s a brilliant thing to do - more people should attend these sessions. Thank you again for a brilliant session!”

There’s a waiting list for our September session, but we also have a new session available on Wednesday 7 October (14:30-16:30).

These are aimed at non-clinical members of the public, aged 16+ and they are free to attend, thanks to support from Royal Papworth Hospital Charity .

Spaces are limited though and booking is required in advanced:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/resuscitationteamatroyalpapworthhospital/2268863

21/08/2026

Lungs 'breathing' outside the human body 🫁

Ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) takes donated lungs which are initially considered marginally acceptable or marginally unacceptable for transplant, assesses them outside the body in a special machine and allows greater monitoring of their function, to ensure suitability for donation.

This machine mimics the environment of the human body, allowing the lungs to inflate and deflate as normal.

A special fluid maintains the lungs, helps to restore the normal function and allows them to be maintained. The lungs can be maintained in this way for up to four hours.

If the lungs perform after testing, they are removed from the system and put on ice for delivery for transplantation.

This method helped ensure the first lung transplant to be carried out through NHS Blood and Transplant’s (NHSBT) Assessment and Recovery Centres (ARCs) pilot, which aims to increase the number of organs suitable for transplant.

Arriving from a hospital in the north of England, these donor lungs were transported to Royal Papworth for assessment and perfusion.

Once confirmed as being suitable for transplant, the lungs travelled a further 103 miles to University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust to be transplanted into a patient on the NHS transplant waiting list. 🚑

The transplant surgery went well and we are delighted that the recipient has returned home to continue their recovery.

If the ARCs pilot is successful and a UK-wide network of these centres is eventually established, NHSBT predicts it will enable up to 750 extra lifesaving and life-improving transplants every year. Amazing! 💙

20/08/2026

Talking lung transplantation on TV 🫁

Here is Dr Jas Parmar, consultant transplant respiratory physician, talking to ITV News earlier today about our involvement in the first lung transplant that has taken place through NHS Blood and Transplant's new Assessment and Recovery Centres (ARCs) programme - which hopes to increase the number of organs suitable for transplant.

Tune into ITV1 from 18:30 this evening to hear more from Dr Parmar, see the XPS perfusion machine and discover what this programme could mean for people desperately awaiting a life-saving transplant. 💙

20/08/2026

First lung transplant take place through ARCs pilot 🫁

We have played a key role in the first lung transplant to have been carried out through NHS Blood and Transplant's (NHSBT) new Assessment and Recovery Centres (ARCs) programme, an ambitious national initiative to increase the number of organs suitable for transplant.

Earlier this year we became one of the first regional perfusion hubs in the ARCs pilot, where selected donor lungs initially considered difficult to assess or borderline for transplant would be brought here for assessment and treatment.

Last month, our first case arrived when a pair of donor lungs were transported from the north of England here to Royal Papworth in Cambridge for assessment and perfusion. This is where oxygenated blood and medicines are passed through the lungs, whilst they are ventilated on a special perfusion machine, to enable testing to take place.

Once confirmed as being suitable for transplant, the lungs travelled a further 103 miles to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham to be transplanted into a patient on the NHS transplant waiting list.

We believe this is the furthest perfused lungs have ever travelled for transplantation outside North America, creating a new UK and European record.

More importantly, the transplant surgery went well and we're pleased to share that the recipient has returned home to continue their recovery. 🫶

If the ARCs pilot is successful and a UK-wide network of these centres is eventually established, NHSBT predicts it will enable up to 750 extra lifesaving and life-improving transplants every year.

Congratulations to all our teams involved in this historic first lung transplant case in the pilot, as we continue to showcase our expertise and lead nationally and internationally in heart and lung care.

Our thanks and congratulations also go to our NHS colleagues at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and NHS Blood and Transplant for a great example of national collaboration.💙

19/08/2026

A sweet thanks to our ACHD team 🫀🍪

One of our adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) unit patients recently sent in these very on-brand cookies and a card for the team to say thank you for the care she's received.

Our ACHD team treats patients over the age of 16 with congenital heart disease across East Anglia.

Congenital heart disease is a general term for a range of birth defects that affect the normal workings of the heart and great vessels.

Kiko Olano, Lead ACHD Nurse, said: "It's always incredibly rewarding to see the positive impact our team has on our patients and their families."

Thank you to everyone in our ACHD team for the care you provide to our patients. 💙