Barts and The London Heart Attack Centre | About us
About us
About the Heart Attack Centre
Based at The London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green, the 24-hour emergency heart attack centre, now in it's fifth year, the centre serves a population of over two million people from the City of London to the M25 and beyond.
The Barts and The London Heart Attack Centre provides round-the-clock emergency medical care for people who are having a heart attack. Patients who previously would have been taken to A&E departments across east London are now taken to the centre for treatment. Paramedics from London Ambulance Service are also specially trained to diagnose heart attacks so that they can bring patients directly to the centre.
In more than 80% of cases, patients are brought straight to the London Chest Hospital by Ambulance and more than 80% patients receive treatment within 90 minutes of the call for help.
To find out more about the London Ambulance Service' role in helping people having a heart attack, please click on the link.
Once at the centre, a consultant heart specialist (interventional cardiologist) will assess the patient and undertake a minimally invasive procedure called an angioplasty to clear the blockage and stop the heart attack.
Follow this link to listen to the BBC coverage on the London Chest Hospital Heart Attack Centre: BBC Case Notes: Heart Attacks
Impressive success rates
Traditional methods of treatments in the UK used to achieve a mortality rate amongst heart attack patients of approximately 12%. However since the new centre opened in April 2006, doctors have reduced this to 5%.
The centre receives some of the most urgent heart attack patients for whom the mortality rates were previously nearly 100 per cent. These include people who are suffering conditions such as cardiogenic shock where the heart stops pumping enough blood for the body to function.
Reduced time spent in hospital
As well as improved mortality rates, the centre also achieves far better discharge times with patients often being able to return home after just 48 hours compared with the 8-10 days they faced with traditional treatments. This is both better for the patient and the centre which is able to treat more patients.
To find out a patient’s view of the treatment received at the Heart Attack Centre, please visit the patient stories section.
