Leicester Mercury
Copyright 2007 Leicester Mercury
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Leicester, U.K. — More heart attack victims are receiving a life-saving drug more quickly.
Hospital staff are beating national targets for giving patients clot-busting treatment, figures just published show.
They also show that ambulance staff are getting the treatment to more people than they were last year.
The drug thins blood and breaks down clots which cause heart attacks.
The sooner it is given the better the person’s chance of making a full recovery.
Both Glenfield Hospital and Leicester Royal Infirmary exceeded targets in getting the treatment to patients within half an hour of them arriving.
The national target is 75 per cent and the English national average is 84 per cent.
Staff at the infirmary got the treatment to 81 per cent of patients within half an hour last year - down on 2005/06.
But 59 per cent of infirmary heart patients got the treatment within an hour of calling for help - a 12-point jump on last year.
At Glenfield Hospital, 86 per cent of patients were treated within 30 minutes of getting there.
But the numbers receiving the treatment within an hour leapt from 45 per cent to 67 per cent.
Experts who have helped compile the report for the Myocardial Infarction National Audit Project (MINAP) said Leicester’s Glenfield Hospital was leading the way in groundbreaking new treatment.
Some 35 patients have had a primary angioplasty in the past year. One patient who owes his life to the new treatment is John Dawson, from Anstey.
The 75-year-old felt ill as he walked to his local shops. He was taken to Glenfield hospital for the operation.