Background
Dr Ashish Dhawan is a consultant cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist, and Clinical Director of Cardiology at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He has held a substantive NHS consultant post since 2013, combining a full general cardiology practice with the specialist electrophysiology and complex device service he built from the ground up within a district general hospital setting.
Experience
Dr Dhawan is based at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan, where he is clinical lead for the electrophysiology and complex device service and lead implanter for CRT and ICD therapy across the Bolton, Wigan and Salford sector laboratory. Under his clinical leadership the Trust became the leading implanter of complex devices among the three trusts sharing that laboratory.
As Clinical Director he is accountable for departmental strategy, service delivery, clinical governance and workforce across the cardiology directorate. He has led cardiology mortality and morbidity review since 2013, authored the Trust's cardiac telemetry guideline, and designed a combined valve disease and echocardiography clinic that removed a three-visit delay for patients referred with a heart murmur.
Alongside his NHS work, Dr Dhawan sees private patients at The Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle and the Beaumont Hospital in Bolton.
Specialisation
Dr Dhawan's areas of expertise include:
- Atrial fibrillation, including catheter ablation for paroxysmal and persistent AF
- Palpitations, arrhythmia and supraventricular tachycardia
- Diagnostic electrophysiology studies, and ablation for atrial flutter, AVNRT and accessory pathways
- Pacemakers, CRT devices, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and loop recorders
- Device programming, optimisation and troubleshooting
- Heart failure, including dyssynchrony assessment
- Chest pain, angina and coronary intervention
- Transthoracic echocardiography and cardiac catheterisation
- Syncope and inherited arrhythmia assessment, including ajmaline and flecainide provocation testing
Educational Background
Dr Dhawan qualified MBBS at Punjabi University, Patiala in 1997, and completed an MD in Medicine at Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in 2001, where he was named among the three best postgraduates of the university. He was awarded MRCP (UK) by the Royal College of Physicians in 2005, completing all parts within twelve months and each at the first attempt.
He trained in cardiology on the North West Deanery programme between 2007 and 2013, rotating through Blackpool Victoria Hospital, the Manchester Heart Centre, Salford Royal, Wythenshawe, Stepping Hill and North Manchester, and subspecialising in electrophysiology and devices. He was awarded his CCT in Cardiology in 2013, passing both the Knowledge Based Assessment and the Heart Rhythm UK written accreditation at the first attempt. He is fully registered with the General Medical Council, GMC number 6042600.
Research Interest
Dr Dhawan's research has centred on arrhythmia risk and cardiac biomarkers — in particular the prognostic value of minor troponin release in new-onset atrial fibrillation, the incidence of arrhythmia in women presenting with symptomatic palpitations in pregnancy, and inflammatory markers as predictors of mortality in infective endocarditis.
Research Summary
Dr Dhawan has published in the European Heart Journal, the British Journal of Anaesthesia and the Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, alongside review articles on newer oral anticoagulants and on the long-term cardiovascular implications of hypertension in pregnancy. His work has been presented as oral abstracts at the British Cardiovascular Society Annual Scientific Conference and as posters at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.
Teaching and Training
Dr Dhawan has been an educational and clinical supervisor for North West foundation, internal medicine and cardiology specialty trainees throughout his consultant career. He founded and continues to chair the weekly departmental academic and multidisciplinary meeting, teaches medical students from Manchester, Liverpool, Salford and Buckingham at the bedside, in clinic and in the catheter laboratory, and delivers regional teaching on atrial fibrillation ablation and arrhythmia management at North West Deanery registrar training days.
Professional Affiliations
- General Medical Council (GMC) – registered with a licence to practise (GMC 6042600)
- British Cardiovascular Society
- Heart Rhythm UK
- European Heart Rhythm Association
- European Society of Cardiology
- Royal College of Physicians – registered for CPD
- Medical Protection Society (MPS)
Recognition and Awards
- Hospital Doctor Team of the Year (Cardiology), 2005
- Nominated, Hospital Doctor Training Team of the Year, 2006
- Named among the three best postgraduates of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences
Beyond the Consulting Room
Dr Dhawan speaks English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi fluently and is able to consult with patients in all four languages. Outside medicine he is a keen cricketer and cricket follower, enjoys cooking, and plays the harmonica.