Consultant slams Wycombe's heart services

10:20am Tuesday 4th December 2001

HEART consultant Dr Piers Clifford says cardiac care provision at Wycombe Hospital is just not good enough.

The doctor launched his surprise attack on the hospital's lack of facilities for heart patients in a speech to the South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust Board. And he believes the set-up is putting off skilled nurses coming to Wycombe.

Dr Clifford said the hospital needs a self-contained coronary care unit to provide proper care for heart patients.

He stunned board members at last Wednesday's meeting by claiming that the current six beds on the sixth floor of the hospital, housed in a ward with stroke and dementia patients, are just not good enough.

He said: "At the moment six beds doesn't really act as a CCU. Trained [heart] nurses don't want to work with people with dementia or stroke patients. They are going on to places where there is an appropriate CCU."

The doctor believes that a specialist heart unit would also benefit the hospital's overloaded accident and emergency department, with heart patients able to see a cardiologist straight away, rather than a physician in A&E.

Dr Clifford made his comments and outlined his case for the unit after being invited along to talk to the board about the hospital's progress in cutting coronary heart disease.

Coronary heart disease is one of the country's biggest killers and health trusts have been told by the government to reduce deaths by 40 per cent, either through prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.

Clot-busting drugs can help to save lives and Wycombe Hospital already has a target of treating 75 per cent of heart attack patients with the drugs within half an hour of them arriving at the hospital.

The actual figure of patients treated in this way has risen from 18 per cent to 54 per cent, with 85 per cent now being treated within 45 minutes.

The hospital has also taken on a specialist nurse to give the drugs and to teach nurses in A&E. But Dr Clifford said it would be better if patients could go straight to coronary care.

He also wanted paramedics trained so they could deliver the clot-busters in the ambulance.

"It happens in Rotterdam, where it saves a lot of lives. But we are not brave enough in this country," he said.

Paramedics already deliver drugs to people with diabetes and epilepsy, as well as give fluid and oxygen to road accident victims, deliver babies and take electro-cardiograms (ECG).

Chris Fawdon, services liaison manager with Two Shires Ambulance Trust, said paramedics brought the hospital to the patient and being able to administer the clot busters would be a big help.

"The more drugs we have, the better chance we have of getting the patient into hospital in a better condition and saving lives."

Wycombe Hospital is to get £750,000 lottery cash for angiogram equipment to help heart specialists decide whether surgery or other treatment is appropriate.

Trust chief executive Roy Darby said it was a major step towards the hospital's long term plan for cardiac patients. The next step would be to build up the cardiac team working with Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

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