East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust was given the prestigious honour of being selected as one of three out of 120 cardiac centres to perform a live broadcast of a coronary angioplasty procedure via satellite. This was for the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society national conference held in London. The Team broadcast to a live audience of approximately 700 cardiologists who were able to interact with them whilst they were performing the procedure.
During the case streamed live from the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, new technology was demonstrated for the first time to a UK audience. The moderator for the case, Consultant Cardiologist Dr Scot Garg, was delighted by the invitation from the national committee to organise the session, and the procedure was performed by Consultants Dr John McDonald and Dr Ravi Singh.
The feedback from the broadcast has been very complimentary highlighting in particular excellent team working. This was echoed by the Clinical Director for Cardiology, Dr. Balachandran, who was actually watching with the audience in London.
The achievement is even more impressive considering the first PCI procedure only took place in Blackburn nine years ago and is national recognition for the work being done by the whole cardiology team in delivering excellent patient care and continued contribution to cardiovascular research.
Special thanks is also given to the ‘live’ patient who agreed to be involved.