To ask the Secretary of State for Health what records his Department holds on the average period between the arrival at (a) Papworth Hospital, (b) Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, (c) Basildon Hospital and (d) all hospitals in England of a patient needing an emergency angioplasty to the time at which the balloon begins to inflate in the patient’s artery. (282136)

Data from the national audit of treatment of heart attack¹ show that the average periods between arrival at hospital for emergency angioplasty and balloon inflation are:

Papworth—32 minutes;

Norfolk and Norwich—77 minutes (five patients in 2008-09);

Basildon Hospital—no data—primary angioplasty programme due to start in the autumn; and

All hospitals in England—73 minutes (see following note).

Note:

The average of all hospitals includes hospitals with large numbers of emergency angioplasty patients and hospitals which have recently started an emergency angioplasty programme with small number of patients. A more meaningful figure is the average for all patients in England which is 60 minutes.

¹ Source:

Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project—data for 2008-09 based on admission diagnosis.