The provision of a cardio catheterisation laboratory at Sligo University Hospital is needed uregently.

For a STEMI patient arriving at Sligo University Hospital (complete blockage of an Artery) today or tonight, it is clinically recommended they are treated in 120 minutes.

They are in most cases transferred to University College Hospital via helicopter if; 1)the copter is available 2)weather friendly to fly and 3)if Galway has capacity to take the patient. An ambulance is the secondary option if a copter isn't available. It takes at minimum 135 minutes to get from SUH to UCHG.

Could someone tell me how this is safe?

From Sligo University Hospital we transfer 200 patients to St Vincent's in Dublin and University College Hospital in Galway for standard stenting procedures alone per year even though there is capacity to deliver such service in SUH.

For the people of Sligo, Leitrim, North Roscommon, North Mayo, West Cavan and South Donegal, provision of emergency Cardiac Care is unsafe.

A CATH Lab at Sligo University Hospital would save the taxpayer millions. It is currently costing €330,000 per annum for the current mobile angiography unit which visits Sligo once day per week. The transport cost of transporting cardiac patients from Sligo via ambulance and helicopter is €220,000 per year. In short over a 10 year period there would be a net saving of investment in a CATH lab in Sligo to the health service of €3.6million. This does not include the cost of accommodating patients who are awaiting transfer to other hospitals in Dublin or Galway at a cost of €1000 per bed per day.

Approval for a Cardiac Catheterisation Lab at Sligo would not only result in an enhanced quality of service for cardiac patients but also result in a reduction of numbers of patients on trolleys at SRH by freeing up the much needed beds. It would also lead to enhanced funding for the hospital under the national activity based funding model.