Heart attack patients are twice as likely to be given life-saving stents in hospitals running a seven-day service, medical researchers have revealed.
Variations were found in the provision of emergency stents by a study of 300,000 patients over a decade.
Those given stents, which open blocked coronary arteries and restore blood flow to the heart, are 37% less likely to die than those given clot-busting drugs.
The findings will be used as evidence by supporters of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s plan for NHS hospitals to provide a seven-day service, but other factors also proved significant.
The University of Leeds study of 84 English hospitals found patients were 30% more likely to get stents if more than five cardiologists trained in the procedure were available.
Saving lives: A stent
Photo: Courtesy
Dr Chris Gale, of the University of Leeds, said: “In some cases treatment is simply not being offered. This is unacceptable and undoubtedly lives are being lost .”
Prof Peter Weissberg, of the British Heart Foundation, said nine out of 10 people who suffered a major heart attack were now given a stent. He added: “Clearly we need to do even better.”