CAMPAIGNERS against plans to transfer patients to specialist centres say their fears are justified after it was revealed it took more than an hour to get some patients to Basildon cardiac unit.

The first phase of a scheme to transfer emergency cardiac patients in mid and south Essex to the Basildon cardiac centre has resulted in an average journey time of one hour and twenty minutes to move people from Broomfield Hospital to Basildon.

Activists who have long raised concerns over the logistics of transporting such sick patients were alarmed.

A spokesman for the Save Southend NHS campaign group said: “One of our members had a cardiac arrest at the end of January.

“In the ambulance the patient was immediately given oxygen and taken from his home to the resuscitation unit at Southend Hospital in just a few minutes. He deteriorated further in resus and had emergency treatment which restarted his heart.

“If he had been assessed as a ‘treat and transfer’ patient, he would not have survived. If the cardiac or stroke teams at Southend Hospital are reduced, patients will die during transfer to Basildon.”

Figures released on the reconfiguration of cardiology services show 60 patients were transferred from the mid Essex hospital from January 6 to mid February.

The spokesman added: “When the public consultations began almost three years ago, we were told at various meetings that treat and transfer would be a key element of the reconfiguration.

“Yet Dorothy Hossain, East of England Ambulance Service Trust, when she came to Southend Council earlier this year at a scrutiny committee, admitted that the trust still does not have enough ambulances and crews to cover the whole of the Southend area and to meet Government-set targets to reach patients within eight minutes.”

Stuart Harris, Group Clinical Director for Cardiovascular Services at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Treat and transfer for these heart patients has meant an average of two days less spent in hospital, that is around 120 less days spent in hospital in total, which is great news for patients.

“Transport and travel takes 1 hour 20 minutes in total, which includes ambulance request time through to the patient being moved onto the ward in Basildon. They are only on the road for 30-40 minutes, all of which ensures we have a full and safe transfer of patients.

“Whilst in Broomfield patients have already received treatment, been made stable and have already been seen by a Consultant Cardiologist.”

A report to the joint Basildon, Southend and Mid Essex hospital board said early indications are that transfers can, however, reduce the length of hospital stays.

It said: “Looking at all cardiology patient transferred to Basildon throughout the week there has been a two-day reduction in length of stay. Initial findings suggest cardiology patients transferred over the weekends could be spending five days less in hospital.”

Hospital bosses said only 12 patients were included in this analysis and they needed more weekend transfer cases to assess this fully.