'Golden hour' drug to save heart patients; HEALTH: Green light for Brum paramedics to catch up with go-ahead Staffs.Byline: By Alison Dayani HEALTH CORRESPONDENT HEART attack victims can now be given clot-busting drugs from paramedics for the first time in the West Midlands after a U-turn by health bosses. The first paramedics in Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull are being trained to give throm-bolysis treatment, which can save the lives of heart attack victims if given within an hour of a seizure. Birmingham and Black Country primary care trusts have now approved funding for West Midlands Ambulance Service The West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust is the authority responsible for providing NHS ambulance services in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, Warwickshire, West Midlands, and Worcestershire in the West Midlands region. to use the heart drug tenecteplase, even though neighbouring services have been using it for years. Anthony Marsh, chief officer of West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: "This is a huge step forward in the management of heart attack patients. "Paramedics are keen to take on new skills that benefit the public and are keen to ensure their patients receive the best evidence-based treatment available. "It will allow us to start clot busting treatment within one hour of symptoms, in the 'golden hour'." In February, the Birmingham Mail The Birmingham Mail is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, UK but distributed around Birmingham, The Black Country, Solihull, Warwickshire and parts of Worcestershire and Staffordshire. revealed that heart attack victims were being denied these drugs because cash-strapped health bosses refused to fund them in ambulances, making patients wait for the treatment until they reached hospital. Emergency patients in Staffordshire and Shropshire are routinely given the pounds 350-a-shot drug in the ambulance, which often proves the difference between life and death. Paramedics are trained with the knowledge and skills to diagnose patients having a heart attack, and to administer the drug. Dr Russell Smith This article is about the Canadian novelist. For the Australian politician, see Russell Smith (Australian politician). Russell Claude Smith (born 2 August 1963) is a Canadian novelist, newspaper columnist, and expert on men's clothing and style. , cardiologist at Good Hope Hospital, said: "Patients' first contact is often with a paramedic par·a·med·ic n. A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. paramedic so training these team members to deliver this treatment is the quickest way of saving lives and heart muscle." Birmingham and the Black Country have one of the highest rates of heart disease in the UK, and national guidelines say that all heart patients should have thrombolytic thrombolytic /throm·bo·lyt·ic/ (throm?bo-lit´ik) dissolving or splitting up a thrombus, or an agent that so acts. thrombolytic 1. dissolving or splitting up a thrombus. 2. an agent that dissolves or splits up a thrombus. drugs before they reach hospital. OUR SAY: PAGE 62 CAPTION(S): VITAL TREATMENT... Anthony Marsh |
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