Nearest not necessarily best for heart attacks

Patients who suffer from cardiac arrest should not be taken to their nearest hospital but a specialist centre, a new study suggests.

Those taken to specialist heart centres to treat the condition are more likely to survive, experts found.

Footballer Fabrice Muamba was treated at a specialist hospital six miles away in London when he collapsed and suffered a heart attack even though there was a general hospital much nearer.

Some have said that the decision saved his life.

Now, a Danish study, published in the European Heart Journal, has backed the comments.

It found that those who suffer a cardiac arrest outside of 0 Fabrice Muamba received treatment at a specialist unit hospital have a better chance of survival if they are taken immediately to a specialist heart centre rather than to the nearest general hospital.

Researchers analysed data from 41,186 patients between 2001 and 2013.They found that admission to a specilist centre was associated with an 11per cent improvement in survival