A NEW £40,000 unit for patients with irregular heartbeats which can cause strokes is to be set up at York District Hospital.

Hospital managers say it should put an end to long waits in busy clinics, and allow hospital staff to manage treatment betterYork Health Services Trust has not yet found the £50,000 needed to run the service, but has decided the need is so great that the new unit will go ahead.

money could have to be taken from other parts of the budget if North Yorkshire Health Authority cannot be persuaded to help out.

Dr Peter Kennedy, chief executive of York Health Services Trust, said the number of patients being treated for irregular beating of the atrium, one of the chambers of the heart, had risen from just 389 in 1993 to almost 1,200.

This was not because of any increase in the number of people with the condition, which affects around five per cent of people over 65, but was due to the discovery of new forms of treatment such as therapy with the drug warfarin.

The current service, which serves the City of York area, simply could not cope with demand, he said.

The condition can cause blood clots which can themselves cause serious strokes.

It can be treated using anti-clotting agents like warfarin.

Dr Kennedy said: "This is preventive medicine. If you reduce the clotting ability of the blood, there is a remarkable reduction in the risk of strokes."

He told the first open meeting of the trust board that patients in Selby, Malton and Easingwold were able to get the treatment from their GPs but York patients used the hospital service.

But GP Dr Sarah Bottom, vice chairman of the York GPs' local medical sub-committee, said afterwards the issue was not black and white.

She said: "We do provide this treatment for some patients, but cannot manage to do it for all patients for whom it is recommended with existing resources."

The board agreed to approve the new unit in principle and press the health authority to provide the £50,000 revenue funding needed.

"If we don't get the money, we will have to overspend and will have to fund it with money from somewhere else. This is a case of high priority," said Dr Kennedy.

The £40,000 capital cash is to be spent on converting a small area of the hospital behind the WRVS shop in the outpatients unit into a special centre for patients with the condition.

There will be no extra doctors, although more nurses could be brought in.

Regular clinic times will be set up for patients, with ambulance transport laid on for those who need it and "out of hours" clinics for those who cannot make it at other times.

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