New service will help heart attack patients

Oct 9 2008 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

NEW arrangements for treating Lanarkshire’s heart attack victims have been introduced.

Doctors want those who have suffered certain types of heart attacks to be taken to one of two specialist treatment centres within 90 minutes. In circumstances in which this deadline cannot be met, patients will be given a clot-busting drug and then taken to one of the centres.

The two centres are at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride and the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Clydebank.

At present, heart attack patients who suffer blocked arteries are taken to their nearest hospital and given clot-busting drugs.

If those drugs do not work, the patients are taken to Hairmyres for specialist treatment.

Andrew Docherty, interventional cardiologist at Hairmyres, said: “All heart attacks are not the same and many people will continue to go to their local hospital for care. This service is for those patients whose heart attack is due to a blocked artery.

“Paramedics can quickly detect this from the equipment they routinely carry in ambulances and the diagnosis can be confirmed over the phone by coronary care experts at the specialist centre . This means that suitable patients are brought straight to the specialist centre for treatment to reopen the blocked artery using balloon angioplasty, which involves threading a long, thin balloon through the artery and inflating it to clear any obstruction.

“The clinical benefits for patients are undeniable. There is world-wide recognition of the success and patient benefits of this service.”

The service will start in Lanarkshire on November 1

Extra funding of £2m, including over £1m for additional ambulance cover, has been agreed.

Ian Ross, NHS Lanarkshire director of planning and chairman of the West of Scotland Cardiac Group, said the scheme would offer health benefits to patients. All Lanarkshire patients who require the specialist treatment will be taken to Hairmyres.