Cardiology - Salford Royal

Outpatient Services 

We provide 16 Cardiology Clinics a week, offering cardiology services for a wide range of Cardiological issues: 

• ischaemic heart disease 

• heart failure 

• cardiomyopathy 

• arrhythmias 

• valvular heart disease 

• syncope/blackouts 

• hypertension 

• preoperative assessments 

• adult congenital heart disease 

• Cardiology opinion/echocardiography for patients with Fabry's Disease or mucopolysaccharidoses. 

We also run 5 Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinics and 1 New Onset Chest Pain Clinic per week, seeing all suspected new angina patients within 2 weeks.  

There are 5 nurse-led Heart Failure Clinics per week and 1 technician-led pacemaker/ICD follow-up clinic per week.  

Sector Catheter Lab at Wigan 2 per week is performed in the mobile cardiac catheter lab. 

Inpatient Services 

Salford Royal has a 19-bedded Heart Care Unit (HCU) 10 ward beds and 9 monitored beds, based on the Ladywell Block with state-of-the-art cardiac monitoring and telemetry. This facility also has a state-of -the-art procedure lab for pacing, with the on-site ICD implant and cardiac catheterisation. Staffed by a highly experienced nursing team, available for patients with:  

• Acute ST elevation MI 

• Acute non-ST elevation MI (NSTEMI) 

• Unstable angina 

• Post cardiac arrest 

• Tachyarrhythmias – VT (including haemodynamically stable), or SVT which is poorly tolerated/may require cardioversion (including AF) 

• Bradyarrhythmias with haemodynamic compromise or potential need for temporary pacing 

• Overdose of cardiotoxic drugs and haemodynamic compromise or requiring ECG monitoring 

• Aortic dissection 

• Acute valvular failure 

• Cardiac tamponade 

• Acute cardiac failure 

• Cardiogenic shock 

• Massive pulmonary embolism 

• Probable cardiac chest pain with ongoing symptoms and/or ECG changes 

Pericardiocentesis, temporary and permanent pacing (elective and in-patient) are performed on the Heart Care Unit. 

Many acute ST elevation MI patients now undergo Primary PCI and non-ST elevation MI patients have rapid access to inpatient coronary angiography/angioplasty due to close liaison with Manchester Royal Infirmary and Wythenshawe Hospitals.  

Consults for in-patient Cardiology opinion is offered to all non-cardiology areas of the Trust and the cardiology department has routine daily input to patients with cardiology issues on EAU. 

Our Cardiology team provide a consultant of the week model, which ensures there is continuity on the ward. 

There is extensive support for all of the above from the Cardiorespiratory Investigations (CRI) department headed by an experienced team of senior technicians: 

• Gill Taberner - Senior Chief Technician 

• Janet Sewell - Senior Echocardiographer 

• Gill Woods - pacing technician 

• Helen Kucyk - pacing technician 

The CRI Dept offers: 

• ECGs 

• 24/48 hour ECGs 

• Cardiomemos 

• 5 day cardiac event recorders (Novacor) 

• Ambulatory blood-pressure measurement 

• Exercise ECGs 

• Tilt Testing 

• Implantable Loop Recorders 

• Transthoracic echocardiography - this will include state-of-the-art technology allowing increased capacity, Tissue Doppler Imaging and digital archiving 

• Transoesophageal echocardiography 

 All of the above are available for inpatients and outpatients. 

The department enjoys cardiology teaching of 3rd, 4th and 5th Year medical students, teaching to junior doctors and MRCP candidates, regular departmental educational meetings and participation in Grand Rounds. 

There is a continuous programme of audit and clinical governance and growing research activity, current projects involving cardiomyopathy/Fabry and permant pacemaker implantation.

If you are attending an outpatient appointment at the hospital, this section provides you will useful information about your visit.  The information contained in this section is also available in our outpatient patient information leaflet.  

Arriving for your outpatient appointment 

Our Meet and Greet Service Pilot Scheme for visitors to the main hospital site has been launched.  You can find out more about the service as well as apply for support with a visit to Outpatients using our online registration page. 

 Your outpatient letter will detail which outpatient desk you need to report to and where it is in the hospital. When you book in, your personal details like your address, GP and next of kin will be checked. 

What do I need to bring with me? 

• your appointment letter 

• medication - your appointment letter will say what you need to bring  any samples that have been requested 

• any questionnaires you may have completed 

• money for prescriptions or an exemption certificate 

• a list of any questions 

• proof of UK residency i.e. medical card, passport, UK driving licence, pension book, utility bill, student ID 

• money for car parking charges 

Your clinic area 

We do our utmost to make sure you are seen on time. However, there may be occasions when changes happen meaning your wait may be longer than usual. If this happens, the clinic staff will tell you. 

During your clinic appointment, you may be asked to have a test so that the doctor has all the information needed to assess you. Please be aware that it is advisable to leave extra time for your visit in case you are required to have a test carried out once the doctor has seen you. 

The doctor may give you a prescription and will tell you if you need to collect it at the hospital pharmacy or if you can go to your local chemist. 

If you have any queries when you are in clinic, the staff there will be happy to help

GP Referrals to Cardiology will be via a Clinical Assessment Service on e-RS. Slots will be available to book appointments for all patients but these are dummy appointments. Patients are advised not to attend. Instead, they should wait to hear from the Cardiology Department for either a diagnostic test or outpatient appointment. 

Depending on the test, patients living in Swinton, Walkden and Little Hulton may have the opportunity of attending Swinton Gateway for their test, rather than the hospital. Further information will follow during the week.  

• ​​​​​​NICE | The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
• Welcome to the British Heart Foundation - BHF
• ​​​​​Arrhythmi Alliance