Adult congenital cardiac services: Pulmonary hypertension

Our specialist pulmonary hypertension (PH) service, led by Dr Samantha Fitzsimmons, is a shared care service, working with the nationally designated PH centre at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. We can diagnose you and provide you with expert lifelong care, treating and managing your congenital heart condition and the pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure within your lungs) that your condition causes.

Working as a shared care service means you benefit from the expert opinion within the Royal Brompton Hospital, but receive specialist PH care and treatment closer to home. Your treatment plan will be tailored to you, and managed in Southampton. As well as reducing the distance and time you spend travelling, this way of working also speeds up investigations, reduces the time you have to spend in hospital, and helps us with introducing specialist medicines for you, and continuing to manage them.

Dr Dimopoulos, a consultant adult congenital heart and PH cardiologist from the Royal Brompton Hospital, attends the adult congenital heart disease and PH clinic in Southampton six times a year. We also have video-link meetings between Southampton and the Royal Brompton, and can call on Dr Dimopoulos for expert guidance as needed.

Patient information

The Pulmonary Hypertension Association is a good source of information and support.

We also have a patient information leaflet on Eisenmenger syndrome, a form of congenital heart disease where the pressure in the arteries in your lungs is high, causing an increased resistance to blood flow in your lungs.

Contact us

The adult congenital heart and pulmonary hypertension service in Southampton is supported by the nursing service, led by Melanie Finch and Michelle Collins. Please feel free to call for advice, information and support on the numbers below:

• Call our helpline on 07717 714724, or call the hospital switchboard on 023 8077 7222 and ask for bleep 1479.
• You can also call the adult congenital heart disease helpline on 023 8120 4739.