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A new service at Toowoomba Hospital is increasing local capability and bringing care closer to home for patients.
The first diagnostic angiogram was completed last Friday, with staff thrilled to now be offering the procedure.
A coronary angiogram uses x-ray imaging and contrast dye to diagnose heart artery blockages.
“It went very smoothly, and everyone worked well as a team,” said Clinical Nurse Consultant Kirsten Douglas-Robinson.
“Now that we offer this service, patients may not need to travel to Brisbane for their procedure so they can stay in Toowoomba and have it done here.”
And that makes a big difference to patients like Ken from Allora, who had the first coronary angiogram on Friday morning.
“It was exciting being the first cab off the rank. Very pleased.”
“It’s good to see the hospital here has this facility to do this procedure, it’s amazing,” said Ken.
Director of Cardiology Dr Robert Gluer said he’s extremely proud of the team and their collaboration with the Medical Imaging department.
“It’s been a massive team effort, the number of people involved and the time and energy that’s gone into this can’t be underestimated. We were very lucky to have the Medical Imaging department upgrading their equipment, and funding from Toowoomba Hospital Foundation for a balloon pump.”
“It means that patients will be able to have a diagnostic coronary angiogram here, and only people who need further procedures then need to travel to Brisbane.”
The introduction of the diagnostic service is the beginning of a bigger plan to grow local cardiac services at Toowoomba Hospital, including offering stents to heart attack patients in the future.