Pioneering heart operation developed in the East cuts waiting times for transplant patients

A pioneering type of heart transplant developed at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge has increased the number of lives saved by almost 50%.

Surgeons have successfully carried out 85 non-beating heart transplants since the first one back in 2015.

Thomas Shing, 18, from Hertfordshire was the second patient in Europe to have the transplant and says the operation gave him his life back.

Tom had waited nearly three years for a heart, when Royal Papworth Hospital offered him the chance to take part in a revolutionary treatment - a DCD or non beating heart transplant.

Since that operation in 2015 Tom has embraced life to the full.

Being able to bring a heart back to life means many more peoples' lives have been saved. For staff who work on the transplant team it is a uniquely rewarding area of medicine.

Royal Papworth Hospital is now the leading centre in the world for DCD heart transplants - good news for the Cambridge hospital, and even better news for patients like Tom who says the surgery has given him back his life.