Ground has been broken at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds in preparation for the £5.2million cardiac suite which is set to transform heart patient care in the area.

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT) has invested in the new cardiac catheterisation and pacing suite, which will improve the scope and quality of care received by cardiac patients.

Currently a proportion of patients with heart conditions in west Suffolk have to be treated elsewhere for a range of cardiac services that are not available at the Bury St Edmunds hospital.

The services currently provided at the hospital – a coronary care unit and inpatient cardiac wards – also sit on different floors of the hospital, and angiography procedures are conducted on site via a mobile unit that only visits once a week.

This means patients have to be transported across the car park to reach the mobile unit, and sometimes, due to breakdowns, the service is not available.

To resolve these difficulties, the new suite is being built on the ground floor of the West Suffolk Hospital, bringing together both the cardiac care unit and cardiac inpatient wards.

Dr Pegah Salashouri, cardiology consultant at WSFT, said: “Currently many of our patients have to go to other hospitals for cardiac services - to have pacemakers fitted or for other treatments or more invasive procedures, which may mean they have to wait for further diagnosis and treatment.

“The new cardiac suite will mean quicker access to investigations and treatments and will enable angiography and pacemakers to be fitted on site, significantly reducing length of stay for patients, and improving patient experience.

“Delivery of more complex cardiac procedures and tests at West Suffolk Hospital will ease pressure on other local health services.

“My team and I are very excited that the build has now officially begun, and are thrilled at the improvement the completion of the build will make to patient care.”

To move cardiac diagnostic functions from the first floor of the hospital onto the ground floor with the new suite, My WiSH Charity, that supports West Suffolk Hospital, is currently running its Every Heart Matters appeal – backed by the EADT – to raise an extra £500,000.

So far, £126,607 has been raised towards the project.

To donate, call 01284 713466 or email appeal@wsh.nhs.uk People can also text EHMA17 £10, or an amount of their choice, to 70070 to donate via text message.