Heart Lounge welcomes MP
Ealing Southall MP Virendra Sharma popped in to see the work of the Heart Lounge in Ealing Hospital.
The ‘one stop’ service helps keep patients with heart conditions out of hospital by offering a comprehensive series of checks and treatment.
Dr Harmandeep Singh said: “I regularly see patients who, through no fault of their own, are spending too long in hospital because we don’t have an effective early intervention programme.”
The service saw 212 patients during its initial six month pilot and helped 190 people avoid long hospital admission
The lounge, which is based in the hospital’s ambulatory care unit, goes far beyond existing units in the NHS and focuses on treating and discharging patients the same day.
It accepts referrals from the hospital’s emergency department and community heart failure nurses offering a more holistic approach to patients with heart conditions.
Dr Singh added: “The ongoing challenge in the NHS is how to get more from less and we’re offering a service that makes use of existing resources as well as delivering better outcomes.”
The MP was joined by trust chief executive Jacqueline Docherty and chair Peter Worthington.