Specialist cardiology service on way

Sooner urgent angioplasty procedure carried out after a heart attack, the better for patients

Heart attack patients requiring interventional cardiology procedures may no longer have to be treated elsewhere, with plans to bring the service to the region as soon as 2022.

Currently, angioplasty — a treatment to insert a stent to improve blood flow to the heart by opening a narrowed or blocked coronary artery — is done in Wellington.

Hawke’s Bay District Health Board chief executive Dr Kevin Snee said by providing the urgent procedure closer to home it would avoid the transport costs and ensure timely access due to the Capital and Coast District Health Board’s limited ability to meet regional demand.

Patients who have had a serious heart attack in Hawke’s Bay are airlifted immediately to Wellington Hospital for a coronary angiogram and treatment.

Those who experience a more moderate attack must wait to have the angiogram — a special X-ray where dye is injected into arteries to find out if they are blocked or narrowed — which is done at Hawke’s Bay Hospital three days a week.

If the patient requires further treatment they must wait for a bed to become available in Wellington before they can be airlifted there.

Snee said it could take between 10-14 days to complete the process, as sometimes beds were not available in Wellington and the results were not as good compared to if they were done locally.

“We know that the sooner it is done, the better it is for you getting back on your feet. Ideally it should be done within a few hours of actually having a heart attack.

“Wherever we can, we want to stop people from travelling long distances to Auckland and Wellington if it is appropriate.”

The DHB planned to recruit more interventional cardiologists to slowly build up the service and it was working on a proposal to build a dedicated angiogram unit.

Hawke’s Bay Hospital chief medical and dental officer Dr John Gommans said patients were unable to be transported to Wellington Hospital for about 30 days during the year due to weather. “Sometimes our patients wait because it is not ideal to fly unless it is an emergency.” A problem was when its peaks of demand coincided with other regional hospitals. Gommans said. “In recent peaks we have had Nelson treating some of our patients under the regional agreement be- cause they have had capacity where Wellington hasn’t.”

He said the service in Wellington was good when patients were there and a small portion of technical cases would continue to be done in the capital.

It’s the latest development in a move to bring health services closer to home.

Recently it was announced the DHB would be acquiring a linear accelerator in the next few years from the Palmerston North-based regional cancer treatment service to use in radiation treatment for cancer sufferers.

Currently Hawke’s Bay cancer patients have to complete the more than 400km round-trip to Palmerston North.