Life-saving UHDB cardiac care service celebrates its 10 year anniversary
Today marks 10 years to the day since a life-saving coronary care service first started providing 24/7 emergency treatment here at UHDB for patients with serious heart complications.
We are so proud to be able to say that our Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PPCI) service has helped to save the lives of more than 3,000 patients over the last decade.
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), or coronary angioplasty, can be used as an emergency treatment for patients who have had a heart attack by dilating the coronary arteries with a balloon catheter and then inserting a stent.
Having previously offered a limited PCI service for a number of years at the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, an on-call primary service was then established at Royal Derby Hospital on 4 January 2011, to ensure this life-saving intervention could be offered to patients 24 hours a day.
For a patient with serious heart complications, like a heart attack, time is absolutely key, so having this vital service available in Derby has undoubtedly had a hugely positive impact for patients in the area who would otherwise have had to travel further to receive this care.
Dr Tariq Azeem, Lead Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, who helped establish the PPCI service, said: “It’s crazy to think that the service has now been established for 10 years – it has been an epic journey. I must say that the thought of shipping a cardiogenic shock patient due to a heart attack to Leicester or Nottingham would have been saddening, as we already had the ability to do this in Derby.”
Life-saving cardiac care service celebrates 10th anniversary from UHDB Communications on Vimeo.
Helena Leach, senior sister for the Cardiac Catheter Suite, added: “I’ve been here since the start of the primary service. It’s really amazing to see the patients go from being so unwell when they first come in, to then, after the procedure, seeing the benefit of the actual angioplasty, and the difference that it makes to the patient.”
Royal Derby Hospital was one of only a handful of centres from the region to be chosen to establish a PPCI service 10 years ago but has since taken huge strides to make it the comprehensive service it is today.
The team, which was originally made up of only five consultants, now has 10 Interventional Cardiologists, while it also now has more Cath Lab nurses, cardiac physiologists and cardiac radiographers than before.
In addition to this, Royal Derby Hospital now has two Cardiac Catheter Laboratories, having previously only had one, with the increase in capacity and staff enabling the Trust to help more patients and to make this 24/7 service a success.
The development of PPCI has also enabled UHDB to introduce other innovations to coronary care, including establishing a complex cardiac device service, a state of the art heart failure service and an excellent cardiac imaging service.
Dr Azeem said: “When I was first appointed as a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Derbyshire Royal Infirmary in 2005, it was my dream to have a PPCI service here in Derby. It has taken a lot of team work, from the management to all of my colleagues in the department but I’m really very proud to say that we’ve managed this service successfully and saved many lives, having treated well over 3,000 successfully by establishing this service.”
You can find out more about UHDB's PPCI service below: