PATIENTS with suspected heart problems may not have to travel to the UK for a diagnosis in the future if a review recommends testing be carried out in Jersey.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Andrew Mitchell (pictured) said that a review of the Island’s cardiac services would consider whether a coronary angiogram service should be set up in the proposed new extension to the General Hospital in Newgate Street due to be built between 2012 and 2014.

He said it would cost around £500,000 to purchase the necessary suite of equipment for the service and a specialist nurse and physiologist would be needed. They could be current staff trained for the posts.

An angiogram is an invasive diagnostic procedure in which a tube is passed from the top of the leg to the heart and dye injected into the heart arteries to identify blockages. The procedure takes around ten minutes under local anaesthetic. At present, around 250 patients have to be sent each year to either the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford or St George’s Hospital in London for a diagnostic angiogram.