the duke of edinburgh has been
transferred to simbart's hospital in
london for tests on a pre-existing heart
condition
he was driven by ambulance today after
almost two weeks at another london
hospital
ninety-nine-year-old prince philip is
expected to remain at bart's for the
rest of the week
here's our royal correspondent nicholas
witchell
king edward the seventh hospital this
morning an ambulance had been reversed
up to a rear entrance
umbrellas were raised by staff to shield
the view of a patient who has been
placed into the ambulance
it's believed the patient was the duke
of edinburgh
as the ambulance departed it was assumed
he was leaving after 30 nights in the
hospital
to be taken home to windsor castle but
at
12 30 this statement was issued by
buckingham palace
the duke of edinburgh was today
transferred from king edward vii
hospital
to saint bartholomew's hospital where
doctors will continue to treat him for
an infection
as well as undertake testing and
observation for a pre-existing heart
condition
the journey across london was a short
one saint bartholomew's or bart's is
britain's oldest hospital
but it has some of the most modern and
extensive facilities for cardiac care
it's a recognized center of excellence
it's
the the largest specialist center for
this type of condition
in the uk and one of the largest in
europe and so
you can see all of the sub-specialists
whether it's a problem with the heart
rhythm
a problem with the blood supply to the
heart or the heart muscle
all under one roof and delivering care
at the same time
the duke has suffered heart issues in
the past in 2011 there was an emergency
admission to papworth hospital in
cambridge
he'd suffered chest pains at sandringham
the queen and his immediate family
all went to his bedside a blocked
coronary
artery was diagnosed it had been a close
call
yet there's been no suggestion until
today of any recurrence of any heart
problems
for a man approaching his 100th birthday
the duke has seemed in generally good
health
yet his hospital stay is now longer than
any previous one
it's unclear whether the duke will
require any surgical procedure on his
heart such as occurred in 2011.
on that occasion he had a stent inserted
to relieve the blocked coronary artery
on this occasion all the palace will say
is that he's comfortable
and responding to treatment ah good
morning
and amidst all of this a message of
reassurance from the palace
tonight it issued footage of the queen
on another video call
unveiling a statue of herself in south
australia it was recorded a few days ago
so before the latest news of the duke
but the queen sounded
unmistakably cheerful yes i would think
possibly it might be quite alarming to
him just suddenly see it out of the
window
he's very precious as she arrived here
unexpectedly
all of which would seem to emphasize
that these royals don't dwell on their
problems
they get on with the job nicholas
witchell bbc news
well we can talk to our health editor
hugh pim who is
with me now and just tell us a bit more
about why the duke will be moved to
another
london hospital now well sophie we know
from the statement
that doctors want to carry out tests and
make observations
related to a pre-existing heart
condition that the duke has so you can
understand
why they might want to go to a
specialist unit like the bart's heart
center with 24 7 availability of really
expert clinicians in this field
some of the best in the country we don't
know what this condition is
we can speculate that it's linked back
to his blocked coronary
artery in 2011 and the stent being put
in
some patients after that procedure
experience
problems a bit further down the road it
could be
that the infection is somehow linked to
his heart issue possibly exacerbating
a problem with heart rhythm so there'll
be a lot of monitoring going on
ecg's there'll be blood pressure
monitoring and so on
i just get the feeling though that he's
been moved to bards
because of the possibility no more than
that that doctors might at some stage
want to carry out
some form of intervention or procedure
thank you