Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust launched a brand new service last week, which means some cardiology patients will no longer have to travel to London Hospitals for their treatment.
The EPS (Electrophysiological Studies and Ablation) Service is based in the Cardiac Catheter Lab at Maidstone Hospital and will be used by patients needing treatment for abnormal heart rhythms. In the past, people needing this kind of treatment would have been referred to St Thomas’s or King’s College Hospitals in London. For many patients and their families this would have been logistically difficult and stressful. The Maidstone-based service is the first of its kind in Kent.
The Trust has employed two new consultant cardiologists to establish and operate the service, Dr Laurence Nunn and Dr Dennis Caulfield. They will be assisted by Dr Mike Cooklin from St Thomas’ Hospital, who will help oversee the early stages of this brand new EPS service.
Dr Nunn said: “This new service will help many cardiology patients receive treatment that is more convenient for them, being much closer to home. Most of the cases we treat will be day cases with no need for the patient to be admitted in to hospital overnight.
“We are expecting to treat around 80 cases within the next year and as we are the first Trust in Kent to offer an EPS Service of this kind, it’s a very exciting time for us.”
Chief Executive of the Trust, Glenn Douglas, said: “Our first three patients were seen last week. I was privileged to see the care these patients received first-hand and can genuinely say that it is life-changing for them. Patients who were previously managing their conditions through medication left hospital the same day able to live normal lives. This is another extremely positive step forward for the Trust to ensure we provide the very best care and services for our patients.”