NEW equipment to develop heart services is to be installed at hospitals in Darlington and Bishop Auckland at a cost of £123,000.
The board of South Durham Health Care NHS Trust has approved the purchase of two scanners, and additional cardiac rehabilitation equipment, for Darlington Memorial Hospital and Bishop Auckland General Hospital.
A new echocardiography machine will replace the scanner at Darlington.
A second mobile machine will provide more flexibility at Bishop Auckland.
The equipment will be used to carry out tests to diagnose heart disease in adults and children.
It is more advanced and makes the diagnosis of cardiac disease much easier.
Images are clearer and abnormalities more recognisable, which is crucial in the early diagnosis of heart failure.
Clinical director Dr Jerry Murphy said: "This new equipment will play a vital part on our plans for tackling heart disease.
"It will support the work we are doing with our GP colleagues in developing heart failure services in South Durham.
"Bishop Auckland General and Darlington Memorial Hospitals have pioneered services for heart failure and this investment will allow us to further expand these services."
The new scanners will support the one-stop heart failure clinics, which are running successfully at both hospitals.
The one-stop clinics enable people with suspected heart failure to be assessed and given their diagnosis in the day of their appointment.
The equipment was funded through the national Coronary Heart Disease modernisation fund and more than £27,000 from the Bishop Auckland General Hospital Trust funds.
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