LIVES could be saved if a surprise proposal for a mobile heart unit are backed by health bosses.
This week, Professor Ara Darzi delivered a report on the future of acute hospital care in County Durham.
While most attention was on his plan for more integrated working between hospitals at Durham, Darlington and Bishop Auckland, he also proposed urgent action to speed up the diagnosis of patients with coronary heart disease.
At the moment, patients with suspected heart problems in south Durham have to travel to the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, for angiography tests. Patients in north Durham have to go to the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle.
New angiography facilities are being built at the University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital, but it will be next year before they open.
Prof Darzi has recommended to County Durham and Darlington Health Authority bosses that they should deploy a mobile cardiac unit as soon as possible.
"This would give patients at all sites immediate access to the service while plans for 2003 are being progressed," he said Prof.
A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington Health Authority said a team would look at how Prof Darzi's recommendations can be implemented.
l The Northern Echo's A Chance To Live campaign calls for improved care for heart patients.
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