A new heart scanning clinic at Stepping Hill Hospital is saving patients time and convenience and ensuring they get the treatment they need by making scans quicker and easier.

The echocardiography clinic uses ultrasound to create images of the heart to scan for problems and defects.

Stepping Hill Hospital’s pre-operative echocardiography clinic is the only one in the north west, and one of only three in the country, which is run by an anaesthetist and part of the hospital’s main pre-operative assessment unit. This means a patient can have the scan without moving to a separate department, or booking another appointment.

Previously, any patient scheduled for an operation who had a history of heart problems would have been booked into a scan for an appointment at a separate echocardiography clinic, often on a different day. Since the new clinic was set up six months ago, the patient can now be seen much sooner before the operation, problems can be identified earlier, and cardiology plans including the right medication can be started sooner.

The hospital’s pre-operative echocardiography clinic currently scans around 70 patients per year, with plans to double this amount further on. The clinic also cuts down on waiting list times and allows the trust to make better use of resources.

Consultant anaesthetist, Mohamed Abdullatif who runs the clinic says “We are delighted to be one of the few hospitals in the country running this service for our surgery patients, ensuring they have a swifter and easier journey through the surgery process and identifying their needs sooner.”