Practising at
Dr Ameet Bakhai
Consultant Cardiologist
MBBS, FRCP, MESH, FESC, FHFA
"I love helping people strengthen their heart function and reduce the risk of future problems, with a positive, passionate, methodical approach while sharing confidence, calm and great health outcomes."
I qualified from St Bartholomew's and Royal Brompton Hospitals in London, and a Harvard Scholar, I am a cutting edge, front line Consultant Cardiologist, Physician & Research Director at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust since 2004. I have a passion for improving the lives of my patients, supporting my teams and leading research and innovation in health care.
I am available to see patients with a range of cardiac symptoms including chest pain or aches, palpitations, breathlessness, tiredness, leg swelling, high blood pressure, fast and slow heart beats, blackouts or collapses, tiredness, anxiety, sleep disturbance and depression related to heart disease. I also assess the cardiovascular fitness to undergo surgery especially hip and knee joint replacements and spinal procedures.
I am one of the few cardiologists to be jointly accredited as a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, the Royal College of Physicians, the European Heart Failure Association and the European Society of Hypertension which are achieved only having excellence in all these fields.
Through my pioneering research and innovation efforts, I have published over 80 key papers in cardiology and am internationally renowned for my ability to harness new innovations as well as helping design better treatment pathways for patients and primary care physicians.
My work at the National Royal Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore to carefully risk assess and optimise over 500 cardiac patients in the first year, before joint surgery referred by my anaesthetic and orthopaedic colleagues, has been instrumental in bringing to zero emergency cardiac deaths, heart attacks and strokes. I am also increasingly helping people understand the risks and benefits of medications like statins, warfarin, newer blood thinners such as novel oral anti-coagulants and blood pressure medications and often I am able to help review medications to reduce these where appropriate or switch to newer, safer choices.
My knowledge is up to date because of my strong research interests and I frequently teach other consultants and GPs about the latest treatment advances. I am often amongst the first to have access to new treatments and I am the first to prescribe the new drug Entresto in Europe.
My expertise includes the management of conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, angina, heart attacks, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, cardiac valve disease, cardiac syncope, lipid and blood pressure lowering, anaesthetic fitness and reducing cardiovascular risk factors, but I am also an excellent general physician and advises on diabetes, obesity, sleep apnoea and general fitness.
I do prevention work with large corporates and I ran the health checks programme in London screening over 18,000 people. My calm, positive approach is engaging, inspires confidence and motivates people to better health and lifestyle choices. My very comprehensive assessment and taking the time to explain diagnoses, tests and treatments required, as well as considering alternative options has been commended on and I won the Patient Champion Award at Barnet Hospital amongst all staff there.
Treatment information
Some of the principal treatments carried out by Dr Ameet Bakhai at Spire include:
Cardiology
- Ablation of arrhythmia
- Cardiac catheterisation
- Blood clot or thrombosis test
- Blood pressure test
- Blood tests for heart disease risk (cardiac testing)
- Cardiac CT scan (heart CT)
- Cardiac MRI scan (heart MRI)
- Pacemaker implantation
- Cardiomemo recording
- Cardioversion
- Cholesterol level test
- Contrast echocardiogram
- CT scan
- Diabetes test
- Electrocardiogram (ECG)
- Exercise ECG
- MRI scan (magnetic resonance imaging scan)
- Stress electrocardiogram
- Ultrasound scan
- X-ray
Other treatments
- Pacemakers, including the reprogramming and removal of the pacing system without bypass (including leads)
Get in touch
Additional information
Clinical interests
Atrial fibrillation
Coronary artery disease
Hypertension
Interventional cardiology
Vascular medicine
Lifestyle and risk factor management in cardiovascular disease, angina and heart attacks, acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, blood pressure management, cholesterol management, pacemakers, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, pacemakers, atrial fibrillation/flutter, valvular heart disease, anticoagulation, atypical chest pain, medication problems, new therapies and non-invasive therapies in cardiology, fitness for anaesthesia, driving and work.
Qualification and professional memberships
MBBS / St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School and University College London / 1990
Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery
MRCP / Royal College of Physicians (London) / 1993
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons
An advanced degree achieved through both exams and demonstration of excellence in Medicine in the UK.
FRCP / Royal College of Physicians (London) / 2008
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
An advanced degree achieved through both exams and demonstration of excellence in Medicine in the UK. Fellows are international leads in their field and have to be selected to receive the award.
MD / Harvard Medical School and University College London / 2010
Doctorate in Medicine
Awarded from work as a scholar at Harvard Medical School and University College London for advanced research on Health Economics of treating Acute Coronary Syndromes
FESC, MESH, FHFA / Europe / 2011
Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, Member of the European Society of Hypertension & Fellow of the Heart Failure Association.
An elite honour, I have been awarded fellowship of the ESC and a qualified Fellow of the Heart Failure Association and Member of the European Society of Hypertension. These awards demonstrate that I have undertaken extensive work, innovation and published research in these fields to achieve and show my expertise amongst international leaders. This combination of expertise is quite rare and attests to my expertise in many fields within cardiology.
Professional memberships
Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology
Fellow of the Heart Failure Association of the ESC
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London)
Member of the British Cardiac Society
Member of the British Society of Heart Failure
Member of the European Society of Hypertension
Current NHS posts
Consultant Physician and Cardiologist, Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust
Consultant Cardiologist, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Research Deputy Director, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Heart Function Improvement Lead, Barnet General Hospital
Clinical Research Fellow, Harvard Clinical Research Institute
Personal profile
I have a warm bedside manner and communication style that has won me the Barnet Patient Champion award from the entire medical staff body in 2011 in addition to various community service awards for my educational work outside the hospital. I am a passionate, intelligent, capable physician and a research lead involved with clinical trials of the latest therapies, devices and assays. This allows me to successfully manage complex and difficult cases effectively and often innovatively with expertise of the latest pharmacotherapies.
I speak English, Gujarati and some Hindi, enjoy badminton, tennis, skiing and family breaks in Spain. I am a Jain by birth and deeds, including being a vegetarian.
Contact information
| Telephone | 020 8901 5555 |
| Private secretary | Varsha Udani |
| Private secretary telephone | 07903 856 720 |
| Private secretary fax | 020 84214674 |
| Private secretary email | varsha@heartconsultant.org |