10 Jan 2012

New heart imaging unit opens

10:13 am on 10 January 2012

Waiting times for North Shore residents needing help with heart problems should soon get shorter.

A second unit to take images of heart arteries and implant pacemakers at the new Lakeview Cardiology Centre at North Shore Hospital opened on Monday.

Waitemata District Health Board says that while critical heart patients are seen immediately, those with less severe problems have had to wait four days or longer and some have waited 12 days.

The DHB says the new unit should reduce that to 48 hours.