MORE heart attack patients will be airlifted to the mainland for emergency treatment, if plans announced by NHS Isle of Wight go ahead.
The Isle of Wight Primary Care Trust (PCT) hopes to offer an enhanced service from April this year, by transferring a greater number of patients to Portsmouth via the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.
These patients would receive an advanced type of treatment called emergency primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), described as the 'gold standard’ procedure for treating heart-attack victims.
Around 270 people on the Island suffer heart attacks each year, around 80 of whom would be suitable for PPCI.
Islanders do not currently receive PPCI, as the procedure must be carried out within two hours and it is impossible to transfer patients across The Solent to Portsmouth and Southampton — the nearest treatment centres — within that time.
The Isle of Wight PCT has said it would cost £500,000 to set up an PPCI treatment centre on the Island, and it takes three-and-a-half hours to transfer a patient to the mainland by ferry. But by air ambulance, the journey would take just under two hours.
Most Island heart attack patients are currently treated with angioplasty or thrombolysis, a procedure that involves drugs being injected into the heart to dissolve clots.
The Isle of Wight Council’s adult social care, health and housing scrutiny panel agreed to support the plans at its meeting last Tuesday, but urged the Isle of Wight PCT to introduce an overnight air ambulance service as soon as possible, and to ensure facilities for relatives travelling with patients were improved.
Reporter: emilyp@iwcpmail.co.uk