Experts from Heartlands Hospital hosted a team of leading health policy makers from Beijing in China, in a visit to the Hospital to learn about antimicrobial resistance and care of the elderly.

Having received an £8 million refurbishment in 2013, the Hospital’s laboratory medicine development houses a state-of-the-art molecular biology laboratory in partnership with Public Health England which applies the latest molecular technology through the facilities to identify infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance through DNA sequencing.

Welcomed by deputy chief executive and medical director, Andrew Catto and microbiologist, Professor Peter Hawkey, the delegates were given the chance to familiarise themselves with the UK’s approach to healthcare and learn from medics specialising in antimicrobial resistance surveillance, which involves using the latest techniques to monitor and treat infectious diseases. They were also given a tour of the Hospital’s laboratories and pharmacy facilities.

To finish off the day they were given a talk by deputy medical director for strategy and transformation, Professor Matthew Cooke about progress being made in the local healthcare sector in integrating care for the elderly.

Andrew Catto said: “The exchange visit gave us the opportunity to share our experiences with the delegates and to discuss the differences and similarities between specialist care in the two countries.

“The visit covered many different areas from across the country, so it was a great opportunity to showcase our first class laboratory medicine facilities and for us to have discussions on the latest medical innovations here in the UK.”

This visit was part of a programme of visits for the UK-China Health Policy Dialogue.  Twenty four top Chinese health policy makers spent one week in the UK with Heartlands Hospital being the final destination of their visit, having attended a meeting with Jeremy Hunt, Sally Davies (CMO) and the director general of the WHO amongst others in London the day before.