§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of heart attack patients receive thrombolytic drugs within the target time of 30 minutes proposed by his Department. [99988]
§ Yvette CooperThe Emerging Findings report on the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease, published in November 1998, proposes a national standard for 'call-to-needle time' of 60 minutes for thrombolysis. This covers the total National Health Service response time from the point when the patient seeks professional help to the time when treatment is started if it is indicated.
There is no national audit of thrombolytic therapy in place at present. An audit undertaken in 15 hospitals in 1997, the latest year for which data are available, found that 14 per cent. of eligible patients received thrombolytic therapy within 60 minutes of calling for help, and the proportion treated within 30 minutes of hospital arrival ('door-to-needle' time) was 33.2 per cent.