Ipswich Hospital secures £5m for new cardiac facility

Ipswich Hospital has secured £5m to build an invasive cardiology facility.

It means patients in Suffolk will no longer have to leave the county for elective heart treatment such as planned angioplasty.

Emergency patients will still have to be treated at a centre in Cambridge, Norfolk or Essex.

The NHS Midlands and East board will have to approve the plans for the facility, which could open by 2014.

Dr Paul Watson, chief executive of NHS Suffolk, said: "This is good news for future patients who need treatment to expand heart arteries."

NHS Midlands and East applied for the £5m grant from the Department of Health.

Dr Daniel Poulter, Conservative MP for central Suffolk and north Ipswich, said the new facility would "make a real difference to improve the speed and quality of care for heart patients in Suffolk".

He said: "The new cardiology centre will allow people in Ipswich and Suffolk with heart problems to be treated to the highest standards of care."