A pioneering heart specialist will find out today whether he has won a national award.

Dr Jan Kovac, a consultant cardiologist from Glenfield Hospital, has made the final of the NHS Leadership Awards in the innovator of the year category.

It recognises the person whose inventions have most transformed patient care.

Dr Kovac was the first surgeon to carry out a keyhole heart valve replacement procedure, at Glenfield, in 2007.

The technique, allowing heart valves to be implanted using a catheter, has benefited many elderly patients who would not have been considered for surgery because of the risk.

The operation has been performed more than 80 times.

Dr Kovac and his team have also established a programme for training colleagues.

He said: "This is the culmination of years of extremely hard work by the valve team.

"It is a tremendous feeling to see how the valve method can change patients' lives and we continue to innovate in the field of cardiac interventions."