New £5m heart care wards open

The two new wards should cut hospital waiting times

Two new wards which should cut patient waiting times are being unveiled at a Cambridgeshire hospital.

Papworth Hospital has invested more than £5m in a cardiac day ward and a new critical care area.

The hospital, near Cambridge, is renowned for its pioneering heart surgery.

"This is good news for the health service," said Dr David Stone, the hospital's medical director.

Increased capacity

"If we have that kind of facility and the patients enjoy being there, a happy patient gets better quicker,"

In the new cardiac day ward tests are carried out on people with heart problems.

With the increased capacity, staff will be able to see 100 patients a week.

The critical care area can now nurse an extra five patients through their recovery.

The hospital is predicting the new wards will cut waiting lists and waiting times and more people will be given life-saving medical care.

As the region's only specialist heart hospital, Papworth serves the population of East Anglia which is currently some 2.2 million but projected to rise to 2.5 million by the year 2008.