Hospital opens 'one stop shop' transplant centre

A new "one-stop shop" transplant centre has opened at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

The Edmonds Transplant Centre enables patients to receive all of their care, both prior to and after their operation, in one place, rather than attending appointments in multiple locations across the hospital.

Clinical care consultant Nick Murphy said the new £4.2m facility would streamline patient journeys and reduce stress and recovery times.

Imran Vorajee, 44, from Nuneaton, received a life-saving heart transplant at the hospital in 2018 and was among others who welcomed HRH Duchess of Gloucester to the centre during its official opening on Thursday.

Mr Vorajee was diagnosed with end-stage heart failure at 37 years old and spent three months in a coma at the QEHB while he waited for a transplant.

He said he "owed everything to the heart donor who saved his life".

The new centre, which was funded by the University Hospitals Birmingham Charity, provides patients with pre-transplant consultations, additional fitness classes prior to surgery, groups and rehabilitation classes after surgery.

"Patients can come in and see their physician, the surgeon, the transplant coordinators, their psychologist and their dietician all on the same day and in one location," Mr Murphy said.

QEHB is one of the leading transplant centres in Europe for heart, liver, lung and kidney surgeries.

Mike Hammond from the charity added that the new facility would help the hospital increase the number of transplants it carried out and complete research to make transplants "more successful and last longer".

Ben Jeszka received a liver transplant at the QEHB and said he felt "the best he ever had".

"I'm swimming, running, going on holidays again, and getting back into work; it's done so much for me," Mr Jeszka said.

Seven years after he received his transplant, Mr Vorajee said he was looking forward to playing table tennis at the World Transplant Games.

He added that "with his new heart", he no longer took things for granted.

"I feel that it hasn't changed me as a person, but I'm making the most of my new life now thanks to my donor," he said.

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.