Heart attack patients will be given the treatment within minutes
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Heart attack patients are being promised vital treatment within minutes of arriving in hospital as part of a new scheme launched on Monday.
Patients arriving at The Royal Bournemouth Hospital are currently given blood-thinning drugs in A&E.
From Monday, ambulance crews will identify those patients with blocked arteries and take them straight to the hospital's Dorset Heart Centre.
They will then be given an emergency angioplasty within minutes if needed.
'Lives saved'
The procedure sees a catheter with a deflated balloon at its tip inserted into any blockage in the artery.
The balloon is then inflated removing the blockage and restoring the flow of blood to the heart.
Consultant interventional cardiologist Suneel Talwar said: "This approach offers greater benefit to the patient than the traditional treatment of giving clot-busting drugs to patients.
"Primary angioplasty saves lives and we are delighted to be able to offer this service to people in this area for the first time."
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