Professor Ross Hunter : Cardiology

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Overview

Specialises in

Electrophysiology

Offers

Face-to-face consultations
Video and telephone consultations

About me

Professor Ross Hunter is a Cardiologist and Electrophysiologist (arrhythmia specialist) with 20 years of experience. He is the Clinical Director of Arrhythmia Services at The Barts Heart Centre, the largest cardiac centre in Europe and one of the largest in the world. He leads a team of 28 excellent arrhythmia and devices consultants in providing 24/7 care for complex cases from around the UK. His previous roles at Barts have included Director of Arrhythmia Research and Lead for AF services. Prof Hunter and The Barts arrhythmia unit were
recently commended in the houses of parliament for innovations in arrhythmia care when given several awards by the Arrhythmia Alliance during “Heart Rhythm Week”.

He is an internationally recognised specialist in the management of arrhythmias. He performs catheter ablations for all arrhythmias and according to NICOR, he performs approximately 200 complex catheter ablations per year making him consistently one of the highest volume operators in the UK for catheter ablation. He perform catheter ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation (AF) and other cardiac arrhythmias including SVT, atrial tachycardias, ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ectopics.

He also implants, revises and extracts the full range of pacemakers including biventricular pacemakers, ICDs, sub-cutaneous ICDs and leadless pacemakers.

He is at the forefront of his specialty and has rare expertise at the cutting edge of new techniques and technologies in the fields of ablation and pacing including robotic technology, the latest 3D mapping systems, and cryoballoons.

He has high success rates and very low complication rates and a track record for helping patients with difficult problems, such as complex repeat procedures for those with previously failed ablation, patients with structural heart disease or other high-risk cases.

He has published over 150 research papers in the field of arrhythmias on PubMed. He is an elected council member of the British Heart Rhythm Society, an expert advisor to NICOR and a board member of the BHRS multicentre trials group. He continues to develop new techniques and technologies to investigate and treat arrhythmias, runs clinical trials and supervises PhD students.

He sees patients with palpitations, fatigue, breathlessness and chest pain. He currently practises privately in London at One Welbeck Heart Health and the London Bridge Hospital. He also practices in Berkshire at The Bridge Clinic in Maidenhead.

Areas of interest

Heart Rhythm Management Specialist; Atrial Fibrillation (AF) specialist; Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation (institution lead and high volume operator); atrial tachycardia ablation; SVT ablation; ventricular tachycarda (VT) ablation; Arrhythmia; Electrophysiology; pacemaker management/implantation; ICD management/implantation; Cardiac resynchronisation therapy management/implantation; palpitations; syncope; fainting; dizziness; breathlessness; chest pain

Medical secretaries

Helen Kitchener
London Bridge Hospital 27 Tooley Street LONDON SE1 2PR
020 7234 2641
Helen.kitchener@onewelbeck.com

Anaesthetists worked with

Dr Jonathan Cousins Fee Assured
Dr Stephen Shepherd Fee Assured

Dr Sachin Shah Fee Assured
Ester Avagliano Fee Assured

About me

External resources

Current NHS consultant posts held

Professor of Cardiology & Electrophysiology (arrhythmia specialist), St Bartholomew's Hospital, Barts Heart Centre.
Clinical Director of Arrhythmia Services, The Barts Heart Centre, leading a team of 28 arrhythmia specialist consultants at Europe's largest cardiac centre.
Previously Director of Arrhythmia Research & AF lead for Barts Heart Centre.
Elected council member, British Heart Rhythm Society.
Editor-in-Chief Cardiac Rhythm News.
Chief Medical Officer and Founder of Rhythm AI Ltd.

Research interests

I am a Professor of Cardiology at The Barts Heart Centre & QMUL (University of London). I run clinical studies and randomised controlled trials focusing on novel methods of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) and also collaborate with scientists from a variety of disciplines to study AF. I develop new technologies for the treatment of arrhythmias and test the latest technologies from industry. I currently have 6 PhD students working on separate projects in arrhythmia research.

Two such ground breaking trials can be seen below:
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02950844?term=hunter+af&rank=3
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03394404?term=hunter+af&rank=2

My profile at QMUL & WHRI can be found below:
https://www.qmul.ac.uk/whri/people/academic-staff/items/hunterross.html

Awards received

Arrhythmia Alliance "Team Of The Year Award" 2017.

AF Association "Pioneers In Healthcare Award" 2016 and again 2022.

My PhD student (SH) won the Young Investigator of the Year award at both the British Heart Rhythm Society (2017) and the Heart Rhythm Society USA (2018) for research on AF. My other PhD students were finalists 6 times between 2014-2019.

I was Finalist for the Young Investigator award at both the British Heart Rhythm Society and the Heart Rhythm Society USA (both 2011).

Publications

I have published extensively on arrhythmia management. For an up to date list of full publications in medical journals see pubmed:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=hunter+rj+&sort=date&size=20

Detail of other publications including conference proceedings can be found on Research Gate:
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ross_Hunter/

Examples of recent publications:
1. Hunter et al. Bradyarrhythmias and pacemakers. BMJ. 2018; 360:k642.

2. Hunter et al. A Novel Mapping System for Panoramic Mapping of the Left Atrium: Application to Detect and Characterize Localized Sources Maintaining Atrial Fibrillation. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2018;4:124-134.

3. Hunter et al. Point-by-Point Radiofrequency Ablation Versus the Cryoballoon or a Novel Combined Approach: A Randomized Trial Comparing 3 Methods of Pulmonary Vein Isolation for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation (The Cryo Versus RF Trial). J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 2015;26:1307-14.

I am also the Editor-in-chief for Cardiac Rhythm News, a journal covering the latest advances in Science and technology in the field of arrhythmias:
https://cardiacrhythmnews.com/

Courses offered to GPs

I offer educational talks and seminars to GPs. Please contact my secretary if you are interested.

About my work

My outcomes

Outcomes (checked and approved by medical professional body)

Please click on this link if you would like to see information about this healthcare professional’s performance compared to their peers, as published by their medical professional body.

https://bhrs.com/audit/

Outcomes (self-reported)

Our professional society has published basic data on procedure numbers for 2017. I was in the top 3 operators in the UK for volume of work in complex ablation procedures. A recent summary of data collected independently regarding my practice is below which focuses on catheter ablation of AF.

From 1/1/16 - 25/10/18 I performed:
406 catheter ablations for AF.
91 first ablations for paroxysmal AF.
202 first ablations for more complex persistent AF.
113 were repeat procedures (I may or may not have performed the initial procedure as I take referrals from across the country).
[This is one of the highest volumes in the UK. For reference NICOR have reported that few centres manage >300 AF ablations per year)

All procedures were completed successfully.
The complication rate was 1.3% with no deaths.
[This compares to a 6% complication rate in the world wide survey for AF ablation, which is typical for published reports.]

Procedure times were 52 mins for ablation with the cryoballoon and 168 minutes when using a 3D mapping system.
[This compares to 124 mins for AF ablation with the cryoballoon in a recent large trial (Fire and Ice), and a broad group of 'other' AF cases expected to take 2.5-4 hours.]

My X-ray screening times (the amount of X-rays used) were 2.6 minutes for cryoballoon ablation, and 0.6 minutes for cases using 3D mapping systems.
[This compares to 22 minutes and 17 minutes respectively in the recent 'Fire and Ice trial'.]

My qualifications & training

Qualifications

Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training Joint Royal Colleges (UK) 2013
Member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) Royal College of Physicians (UK) 2005
PhD University of London 2013
Fellow of the European Heart Rhythm Association (FEHRA) European Heart Rhythm Association 2018
Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC) European Society of Cardiology 2017

GMC registration

Reference number 6031316

Professional bodies (positions held - last 3 yrs)

Arrhythmia Management Domain Expert Group Member National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research 2019
Research Board Member British Heart Rhythm Society Multi-Centre Trials Group 2019
Elected Council Member & Trustee British Heart Rhythm SOciety 2019

Details of entry to specialist register

Cardiology , 2013

Affiliations / memberships

Member of the British Cardiac Society
Member of the Royal College of Physicians
Member of the British Heart Rhythm Society
Member of the Heart Rhythm Society (USA)
Fellow of the European Heart Rhythm Association
Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology

My private practice

Practice hours

Practice
Day
Hours
Appt Bookings

1 Welbeck StreetLondonW1G 0AR
Tuesday
14:00 - 17:00
020 7234 2641

The Bridge Clinic Oldfield Lodge156 Bridge...
Monday
09:00 - 11:00
020 7234 2641

The London Atrial Fibrillation Centre2nd Floor,...
Tuesday
09:00 - 14:00
020 7234 2641

Post treatment communication

Following treatment of a Bupa member, I will communicate with GPs in line with Department of Health, GMC and appropriate professional bodies guidelines.

In the event of an urgent query following treatment, Bupa members should use the following contact details

Within working hours please contact my secretary Helen Kitchener on 0207 234 2641.

Outside of working hours please contact the London Bridge Hospital Cardiology Ward on 0207 234 2571.

Through these points of contact it should always be possible to contact either myself or a covering colleague for an emergency.

Finder

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