RBH is fastest in the country for treating heart attacks

Statistics just released by the Department of Health show that the cardiac unit at the Royal Berkshire Hospital is the quickest 24/7 centre anywhere in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for providing heart attack patients with the primary angioplasty treatment within 120 minutes of the patient calling for help.
Primary angioplasty inflates a balloon in an artery to provide patients with the best chance of survival and a good outcome, providing it is delivered quickly.
The 120 minute target is regarded as the toughest one to achieve.
Consultant Cardiologist at the hospital, Dr William Orr (pictured with the cardiac team), said: "This is a really good news for the people of Berkshire.”
“These statistics really reflect the strong teamwork of the people involved in delivering this gold standard treatment – the dedication of everyone from the ambulance service to all of the heart attack team here at the hospital,” he said.
"It is also a tribute to the NHS which provides heart attack patients in this country with what is probably the best treatment in the world.”
Dr Orr said that the faster the primary angioplasty is completed the less chance the patient will have of having long term health issues.
He said that to achieve the fastest time, the system had been refined so that the paramedics were diagnosing the heart attack when they answer the 999 call, they then alert the cardiac team and when the ambulance arrived at the hospital, instead of going via accident and emergency it pulled up on a ramp outside the cardiac unit.
Between the handbrake being applied on the ambulance outside the cardiac unit and the balloon being inflated to end the heart attack is usually no more than 30 minutes.
Dr Orr said: "The national average is 62 per cent, so at 90 per cent we are doing really well.
"We do see a lot of patients, but in total we probably only treat about 500 heart attacks a year.
"Not all of them require an emergency procedure, some heart attacks are more subtle and aren't apparent initially. Those patients will have a procedure within two or three days of being admitted.
"About 200 patients a year are being treated with an acute heart attack."
He added: "This is a really good news for the people of Berkshire.”