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A team specialising in palliative care for heart and lung transplant patients at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital has won a national award.

The Dundas Medal is awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and PATCH (Palliation and The Caring Hospital) to reflect work done to improve the provision of palliative care for surgical patients. 

The medal is in commemoration of Dr Charles Robert (Bertie) Dundas, who was a senior lecturer in in Aberdeen and honorary consultant anaesthetist from 1975 to 1995. He died in 2014 and was never offered palliative care whilst he was ill. He spent his last months waiting for chemotherapy whilst enduring a poor quality of life.

The award named in his honour was presented to Dr Maria McKenna and Professor Stephen Clark, representing the Freeman Hospital team, at the Royal College this week.

Cardiopulmonary transplantation is a life prolonging treatment appropriate for patients with end stage cardiac or respiratory failure. 

In 2016-17, 332 adults received a cardiopulmonary transplant in the United Kingdom including 165 heart and 167 lung transplants. 

However, the waiting list greatly exceeds the number of transplants that can be performed, due to the shortage of donor organs, and so many patients benefit from palliative care whilst waiting for a suitable donor or if their condition deteriorates. 

The number of adult patients on the UK heart or lung transplant waiting list in 2017 was the highest at any point this decade at 587. Around one third of those listed will die before a transplant can take place, as no suitable donor can be identified in time.

Over the last year, 22 adult heart transplants, three heart and lung transplants and 43 adult lung transplants were undertaken at the Freeman Hospital. During this period, there were an additional 91 adults on the heart transplant waiting list and 133 adults remained on the lung transplant waiting list. 

Palliative care aims to maximise the quality of life of a patient with a life-threatening condition and their family, through careful symptom assessment and attention to holistic care. It is well established as a service, working alongside curative or disease modifying treatments, especially in the cancer setting. 

This award reflects the innovative work undertaken jointly by the Freeman Specialist Palliative Care and Cardiothoracic Transplant Services to improve the quality of care for this unique and complex group. 

Dr Maria McKenna, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, said: “We feel strongly that our collaborative approach to the improvement of palliative care for patients within the heart and lung transplant journey has already made a significant positive impact on a large number of patients and their families.” 

Professor Stephen Clark, Consultant Cardiothoracic and Transplant Surgeon, added: “Winning the Dundas Medal reflects incredibly well on our innovative end of life and cardiothoracic transplant surgical services. We are very proud of what we have achieved through our close partnership to benefit the patients waiting for heart or lung transplants in Newcastle.”

Dr Pam Levack, Medical Director of PATCH, said: “This is such an innovative approach to palliative care in a hospital setting. We are delighted to award the Dundas Medal to Dr McKenna and Professor Clark, whose work has the potential to change approaches to care while awaiting and following transplant surgery. Our best congratulations to the team, and we will continue to watch with extreme interest how this develops.”