SPECIALIST equipment which could save the lives of heart attack victims is being piloted in North Yorkshire.

Front-line ambulances in the Harrogate area have been equipped with "super" defibrillators which allow information about the patient's condition to be transmitted direct to hospital so equipment and drugs can be prepared ready for their arrival.

Up to now, no clinical decisions could be made about a patient until their arrival at hospital.

The new telemetry equipment can send a patient's clinical records straight to the hospital from a travelling ambulance in 55 seconds.

The new technology will help to speed up the treatment process, thus increasing the patient's chance of survival and ability to make a full recovery.

Ambulance crews in Harrogate, Ripon, Bramham and Pateley Bridge have been trained to use the equipment, along with staff at Harrogate District Hospital.

Harrogate-based paramedic Chris Staiano said his colleagues were incredibly enthusiastic about the pilot.

He said: "Speed is essential in the diagnosis of heart attacks and because this equipment enables a faster diagnosis, it can only be a positive step forward."

Dr Bill Hulse, a consultant in emergency medicine at Harrogate District Hospital, said: "The telemetry equipment gives us time to look at the patient's previous electrocardiographs (heart traces) and compare them to the new ones before they arrive.

"The main aim is to allow us to do thrombolysis (breakdown of the blood clot sited within the coronary artery) quicker, and it has been working really well."

The new equipment was provided with grants from the Lottery-funded New Opportunities Fund and the Government.

Ambulance stations in Thirsk and Northallerton are also taking part in the pilot scheme, along with the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton.

Updated: 08:49 Thursday, May 22, 2003