New Service for Heart Attack Patients
Heart attack patients throughout the West of Scotland are to benefit from fast access to a new specialist service.
The implementation of Optimal Reperfusion will see patients diagnosed and taken to a specialist heart treatment centre within 90 minutes. Those who cannot meet this deadline will be given a clot-busting drug and will be taken direct to a specialist centre to give access to the earliest possible treatment.
Hairmyres Hospital is one of two specialist centres in the West of Scotland to provide the Optimal Reperfusion service, the other being the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Clydebank.
Explaining the new service, Andrew Docherty, Interventional Cardiologist at the specialist centre in Hairmyres Hospital 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 by coronary care experts at the specialist centre over the phone.
“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 Optimal Reperfusion Programme will be phased in throughout the West of Scotland over the next few months. For Lanarkshire patients the service will start on 1 November 2008.
The West of Scotland Regional Boards have agreed over £2m funding per year to provide the Optimal Reperfusion Programme. This includes over £1m to provide additional ambulance cover to meet the needs of the service.
Ian Ross, NHS Lanarkshire Director of Planning and Chair of the West of Scotland Cardiac Group, added:
“This is an exciting development that will offer real health benefits to patients. It is an excellent example of partnership working between the regional boards and with the Scottish Ambulance Service.”