You can contact us on 0161 419 5077 (08:15- 5:30) or leave a message out of hours.

Fax: 0161 419 4988

The department is open from 8am until 6pm Monday to Friday. We are closed weekends and Bank Holidays

Not all the tests/clinics the tests/clinics run every day – this is due to the need for specialised equipment and staff for certain tests.

Welcome to the Cardiology (ECG) Department. We provide a comprehensive range of diagnostic tests which provide vital information about the functioning of your heart and cardiovascular system. This information is essential in order to diagnose and treat any problems with your heart.

Our department in Stepping Hill Hospital is purpose built and sees on average 70 patients per day. Some of our tests are available for your GP to organise; others are only available to the hospital Consultants and their teams.

We have a dedicated administration team who book all our appointments, maintain our database, send out results, answer queries from you the patients and from health professionals across the Trust and other Trusts.

We have very talented team of Clinical Physiologists, who perform and interpret the more advanced tests. These staff are all nationally registered with the registration Council of Clinical Physiologists (RCCP) and many hold additional National qualifications in their areas of Speciality – such as Ultrasound and Cardiac Pacing

We have a great team of Health Care assistants who have specialised in working for Cardiology. They have undergone additional training in order to record 12 lead ECGs and fit the many different types of cardiac monitors that we offer. They also keep our department spick and span and look after any of our patients who are perhaps more frail and need extra assistance during their visit.

We also have two very able Associate Practitioners who in addition to providing ECGs and fitting monitors assist the Clinical Physiologists in some of the more complex tests.

What do we do?

We provide the following services – some in the dedicated department, others linked to Outpatients B clinics and the Cardiac Cath lab

• 12 lead ECG (a simple recording of the electrical activity in the heart)
• 24hr/72hr/7 day cardiac monitoring (continuous recording of your heart rhythm whilst you go about your normal daily activities at home or at work)
• 24hr Blood pressure monitoring (records your blood pressure at regular intervals whilst you carry on your daily activities at home or work) This type of blood pressure recording is often more accurate and reliable than one off measurements made in the stressful environment of the doctors surgery
• Exercise tolerance testing (treadmill or bike) – your ECG is continuously recorded whilst you exercise. Sometimes changes on your ECG tracing only show when your heart is working harder.
• Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic – your GP may refer you to this is they suspect you may have angina. This is a specialist clinic where you are seen within 2 weeks of your GP contacting us, by specialist staff who will organise a range of tests- some of which you will be given the results of there and then- you may be started on medication and may be referred for more specialised investigation.
• Transthoracic echocardiography – this is an ultrasound scan which shows us the inside of your heart, we see all the valves and muscles in action and can assess how well they all work. The pictures are taken from the surface of your chest
• Occasionally transthoracic echo does not provide clear enough pictures and patients may need to have a camera passed down the throat (oesophagus) in order to take the pictures from immediately next to the heart
• Contrast echocardiography – is a specialised scan where a specialised solution is injected into the arm during the heart scan. This can highlight small defects in the dividin