Keeping hearts beating strong: five years of our cardiac unit!

It’s been five years since the new state-of-the-art cardiac unit was opened at West Suffolk Hospital by renowned Newmarket jockey and Every Heart Matters appeal ambassador Frankie Dettori.

With the aim to transform heart healthcare provided to the community, the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust invested £5.2m in developing the centre, which offers additional procedures like angiography and pacemakers to patients.

Completion of the centre, in particular the transfer of the hospital’s cardiac diagnostics unit, was made possible by My WiSH Charity and their Every Heart Matters appeal, which successfully raised £500,000 to include diagnostic services in the new build.

Dr Pegah Salahshouri, lead cardiology consultant at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, was instrumental in bringing the cardiac centre to fruition.

She said: “In the last five years, our department has increased cardiac services to our local population. Prior to that, patients had to wait for long time and have these procedures done elsewhere, such as Papworth Hospital.”

The scope of services has allowed the team to deliver nearly 3,000 coronary angiograms, plus permanent pacemaker implants and complex devices, all of which previously had to be carried out at Papworth Hospital.

In the last five years, the centre has also facilitated the feeding of up-and-coming professionals into the world of healthcare science.

Dr Anna Mills, invasive principal cardiac physiologist, said: “This is a great unit to work in. It’s been an amazing place to help many students and we’ve now been able to take on a record number of students for training within diagnostic cardiology and specifically healthcare scientists.”

Anna continued: “We are forever grateful to our wonderful charity for helping us to co-locate with the rest of our colleagues and produce a wonderful service across inpatients, diagnostics and therapeutic services.”

Take a look at our special video, where Pegah and Anna highlight the difference your donations have made.