Hospital cardiac unit set to be shut down

LABORATORY IN CONSOLIDATION 10-MILE MOVE TO THE ROYAL DERBY HOSPITAL

- By PHIL CORRIGAN Local democracy reporter

A CARDIAC facility at Queen's Hospital Burton will be closed down and moved 10 miles away to Derby.

NHS bosses say the proposals for the cardiac catheterisation laboratory will result in better and safer services for patients.

The laboratory at Queen's Hospital can diagnose patients with heart conditions, but most people requiring treatment have to go to the Royal Derby Hospital, with only simple pacemaker procedures taking place in Burton.

The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton Trust (UHDB) is now set to consolidate all its catheterisation laboratories at Derby from September, resulting in the closure of the facility at Burton.

Queen’s Hospital's catheterisation laboratory reached the end of its serviceable life in June, and the facility has been unable to gain accreditation to carry out interventional procedures such as angioplasties.

Moving services to Derby is expected to affect 20 emergency patients from Staffordshire a year, who will be transported to and from Derby by ambulance.