All Cardiac Arrest Victims Should Be Sent To a Specialist Heart Unit No Matter How Far The Distance

• Patients are 11 per cent more likely to survive at a specialist unit, research finds

• Results held true even for patients living 50 miles from their nearest heart unit

• The NHS in England has directed ambulances to specialist centres for a decade

People who suffer from cardiac arrest have better chances of surviving if they are taken to a specialist heart centre, no matter how far away it is.

Paramedics give patients much better odds if, rather than rushing them to their nearest A&E, they go to a major heart unit, a study found.

Patients are 11 per cent more likely to survive at a specialist unit, the Danish researchers said.

If they were able to receive treatments within six hours of the type only usually available in specialist heart centres their survival chances increased 45 per cent.

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops pumping blood. Even those who receive rapid resuscitation remain at risk if they do not receive specialist treatment in hospital.

The NHS in England has directed ambulances to specialist centres for a decade.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, suggests even rural patients should go to large hospitals.



Source