Centre halves heart attack deaths

Professor Martin Rothman was delighted with the results

An emergency heart attack centre has cut death rates by more than half in its first year, it has been revealed.

The Barts and The London Heart Attack Centre in east London has treated 755 people since opening in April 2006 - more than any other in the UK.

It claims a combined approach to treatment has helped cut death rates from heart attacks by more than 50%.

Patients are treated by specialist doctors rather than being taken to an Accident and Emergency (A&E) ward.

According to the hospital, when traditional methods for treating heart attacks are used the death rate is about 12%.

The approach adopted by the Barts emergency centre has seen that figure drop to 5%.

Consultant 'delighted'

Additionally, among patients with cardiogenic shock - a condition where the heart stops pumping enough blood for the rest of the body to function - the death rate is usually close to 100%.

At the Barts centre, this has been cut to 50%.

Consultant cardiologist, Professor Martin Rothman, said he was delighted with the results.

"This is the future of heart attack care and has been shown emphatically to save lives, reduce the risk of further heart attack and enable patients to go home much sooner.

"The fact that we are achieving these results in east London which has some of the highest rates of heart disease in the UK makes it even more satisfying."

The centre serves a population of almost two million people from the City of London to the M25.