CARDIOLOGY

The cardiology departments at Ipswich and Colchester Hospital work to diagnose and treat a wide variety of cardiac pathology. Both sites have dedicated cardiac catheter laboratories where they provide a wide range of invasive and non-invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

Ipswich Hospital

The cardiology team is made up of 8 consultants, 3 deanery higher specialty registrar trainees with national training numbers and 1 IMT3 doctor. There are also several foundation doctors and GP trainees.

The department comprises of a 24 bedded inpatient ward with 10 coronary care unit beds. There is a dedicated cardiac catheter laboratory where a wide range of invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are conducted. A limited number of primary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) are conducted within normal working hours. Out of hours primary PCI is sent to Papworth hospital, Cambridge.

Colchester Hospital

The cardiology team at Colchester hospital is made up of 8 full-time consultants, 1 associate specialist doctor, 2 deanery higher speciality registrar trainees with national training numbers, 1 cardiology fellow and 8 IMT, GP trainees and foundation doctors.

The department comprises of a 29 bedded inpatient ward with 18 coronary care unit beds. There is a newly built cardiac catheter laboratory where a wide range of invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are provided. The imaging department also offers a wide range of non-invasive cardiac investigations.

Training Opportunities

The cardiac catheter laboratory undertakes a high volume of procedures including diagnostic coronary angiograms, implantation of pacemakers, pericardial drainage, and DC cardioversions. The imaging department is equally busy offering a wide range of noninvasive cardiac investigations including transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiogram, CT coronary angiogram, bubble contrast study and Dobutamine Stress echocardiogram. Ipswich also has a cardiac MRI unit which runs twice a week.

Although there is no cardiothoracic surgery on site, trainees are encouraged to attend the weekly specialist MDT meeting with the cardiothoracic surgeons. This enables discussion of complex cases. There is also a monthly regional clinical governance meeting with regular presentations on emerging research projects. This gives trainees opportunities to present and be involved with research projects.

Higher speciality trainees have regularly scheduled protected time to attend the cardiac catheter laboratory, cardiology clinics and imaging investigations including echocardiography and myocardial perfusion imaging. Trainees report that this is a particular strength of the department and helps with achieving competencies in a wide range of skills.