Heart attack patients sent south

One of the patients, a 61-year-old man, was flown to Townsville Hospital for his lifesaving operation after the cardiac catheter lab was closed due to a lack of specialists.

The hospital says the issue has only arisen two other times in just over two years, however union officials say it is clear there is great demand for the service that should be immediately staffed 24/7.

The cardiac catheter lab has been operating since October 2012 as a five-day-a-week service, closed on weekends.

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The $4.18 million facility, which was opened in August 2010, allows heart specialists to carry out coronary angioplasty, an interventional cardiology technique for the treatment of heart disease, a procedure previously not available in the Far North.

The service was established to eliminate the need for up to 200 patients a year to be transferred to Townsville, which is considered a costly exercise.

Yesterday, Cairns and Hinterland Hos­pital and Health Service assistant director cardiology Dr Steven Sutcliffe said due to “exceptional circumstances”, the cath lab was shut on ­Thursday.

“This was due to both of the cardiac interventionalists being unavailable at the same time,’’ he said. “Cardiac services has reviewed their records and des­pite there only being two cardiac interventionalists, this has only happened on two other occasions in more than two years.”

The Weekend Post understands the other heart attack patient, who had private healthcare, was transferred to Cairns Private Hospital for treatment.

Dr Sutcliffe said all patients were reviewed by the director of cardiology, who is not an interventionalist, on Thursday.

“A service plan is in place for such occasions that should cardiac emergency patients present to Cairns Hospital, that appropriate treatment is given locally and that referral to Townsville Hospital is made according to Queensland Health guidelines,’’ he said.

Trinity Park man Martin Anderson, who suffered a heart attack on Saturday, July 19, nearly died on the way to Townsville after he was airlifted from Cairns Hospital due to the cath lab being shut.

Dr Sutcliffe said the health service was in the process of recruiting two more staff, including a full-time interventional cardiologist and clinical nurse consultant, to expand cardiac services to a 24/7 ­facility.

Together union representative and Cairns anaesthetist Dr Sandy Donald said the cath lab was clearly a critical service that the region had only had for a relatively short period.

“We still don’t have the 24/7 service that we should have, given the clinical demand in this region,’’ he said.

“Clearly developing a full-time service with an adequate number of proceduralists is one of the high priorities for giving people in Far North Queensland a level of service similar to what people in the southeast corner have.”