News
Broomwell offers heart-check device for home use
3 September 2008
Broomwell Healthwatch is offering an advanced home heart monitoring
solution for people with a history of cardiac problems — such as heart
attacks or angina — giving them immediate access to expert diagnosis of
cardiac symptoms and providing rapid reassurance for cardiac false
alarms.
The home cardiac-monitoring solution uses the same award-winning
technology that is already deployed in surgeries throughout North West
England and in NHS trusts across England.
Priced at Ł240, the handheld device lets people take a full
electrocardiogram (ECG) test on themselves by holding the device over
their heart and pressing a single button. The device records the test,
then the user calls Broomwell’s 24-hour monitoring centre and transmits
the ECG down the phone line for interpretation.
The centre’s trained cardiac clinicians interpret the ECG and give an
immediate, expert diagnosis, recommending if the user should call their
doctor or go directly to hospital — or reassuring them if the symptoms
are not cardiac related and are simply indigestion or heartburn.
An immediate diagnosis ensures the user receives timely and
preventative care. Treatment is most effective if started within an hour
of the first symptoms, but on average people wait 90 minutes, (and many
wait much longer), before calling an ambulance as they want to wait and
see if the pain will go away.
The signs of a heart attack vary from person to person, but common
complaints include central chest pain, a pain which spreads to the arms,
neck and jaw, or feeling sick, sweaty or short of breath accompanied by
pain. Symptoms can also be as mild as discomfort in the chest, which can
be mistaken for bad indigestion.
People who receive treatment within one to two hours of their initial
symptoms are twice as likely to survive as those who wait four to six
hours from the first signs of chest-pain.
Joshua Rowe, CEO Broomwell Healthwatch, said: “Often people put down
chest-pain to nothing more than indigestion caused by over-indulgence,
which will go away by itself. But with many cases the pain can be a
symptom of something more serious.
"Our 12-lead ECG home monitoring service allows those who are worried
and unsure about their chest-pain symptoms to call our expert cardiac
clinicians at any time of the day or night for an on-the-spot diagnosis.
Those who aren’t experiencing a cardiac event can be reassured in a
matter of minutes, whilst those who need emergency care can be
immediately referred to A&E. Our ECG interpretation service enables
clients to receive expert advice, via the telephone, any time 24/7, and
within minutes."
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