January 23, 2018

Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology is providing its innovative Philips Azurion image guided therapy technology to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH), in Barrie, Ontario which opened the Simcoe Muskoka Regional Heart program, an innovative partnership with Southlake Regional Health Centre earlier this month. The facility ensures that advanced cardiac care is now available in North Simcoe Muskoka, giving patients the same fast access to heart services as those in the rest of Ontario.

The new 16-bed, 14,300 square-foot unit includes two procedure rooms featuring Philips Azurion – one of the first in Canada, for performing cardiac angiograms and angioplasty. Azurion is a next generation image-guided therapy platform that features a state-of-the-art ergonomic design with an easy-to-use, touch screen intuitive user interface, enabling clinicians to confidently perform a wide range of routine and complex procedures in the interventional lab. RVH will be among the first hospitals in Canada to use this technology for cardiac catheterizations.

The program was developed with feedback from RVH’s hospital and paramedic partners, as well as the cardiac Patient Family Advisory Council. While not all cardiac procedures will be available immediately, RVH has planned for a phased approach of these complex services to guarantee patients receive safe, high quality care.

“RVH is committed to providing safe, high-quality care for the residents of North Simcoe Muskoka and now that includes advance cardiac care using the most innovative technology available, says Janice Skot, RVH President and CEO.  “In fact, RVH is the first hospital in Canada to use this technology for cardiac catheterizations.”

The Azurion platform also features an enhanced flat-panel detector, and Philips’ newly developed ConnectOS for the seamless integration of real-time information from all relevant technologies in the interventional lab. All of these components work together to deliver high image quality at ultra-low X-ray doses and real-time image processing on multiple work spots within the interventional lab. Parallel working enables the team of clinicians to complete different tasks simultaneously in the interventional lab, saving valuable time without compromising quality of care.

“At Philips Canada, we are committed to improving the lives of 3 billion people a year by 2025 by eliminating the boundaries to care with innovative solutions like Azurion that put the right information, at the right time, at a clinician’s fingertips,” said Iain Burns, CEO of Philips Canada.  “We want to work with forward thinking health systems like Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre to the improve the patient and staff experience, increase access to important healthcare for those in the region and ultimately lower costs for patients and providers.”