Official Opening of NNUH's Electrophysiology Suite
The cardiac electrophysiology suite at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH) will be officially opened by Care and Support Minister, Norman Lamb MP on Thursday 6th June.
Thanks to the monies raised through the Norfolk Heart Trust's (NHT) Sparks4Hearts appeal, specialist equipment has been purchased which now enables the NNUH to perform electrophysiology locally rather than patients having to travel to Papworth for such treatment.
Electrophysiology (EP) is a special technique that has been developed to identify the short circuits within the heart responsible for abnormal rhythms and then once identified to permanently ablate them.
Dr Iain Brooksby, chairman of NHT said “in November 2010 the NHT launched the Sparks4Hearts appeal to raise £400,000 to enable the NNUH to purchase equipment to treat heart rhythm disorders. The NHT guaranteed £100,000 from its own resources and we are delighted to be able to report that, thanks to the hard work and generosity of the people of Norfolk, enough of the remaining £300,000 has now been raised to enable the purchase of the equipment and for the EP lab to open for business after Easter 2013.
More equipment will still be needed in the near future to continue to develop the EP service so we have decided to keep the Sparks4Hearts appeal open and the Norfolk Heart Trust will continue its long-term commitment to provide financial support for all aspects of the treatment of heart disease in Norfolk”.
Dr Tim Gilbert, clinical director and consultant cardiologist at the NNUH said “We are very grateful to the NHT who had already raised £1million so that angioplasty and stenting could occur at NNUH, for raising nearly £400,000 so that we could also offer EP”.