Waterford hospital: What is a cath lab?

Anyone suffering a major heart attack in Ireland is best treated in one of six cardiac centres that are equipped with a catheterisation laboratory .

A cath lab is an examination room in a hospital with diagnostic imaging equipment used to visualise the arteries and chambers of the heart and treat any abnormalities found. Tests and procedures such as ablation, angiograms, angioplasties and the insertion of pacemakers are done here; heart surgery takes place in an operating theatre.

Treatment of heart attacks will usually involve administration of a clot-busting drug or the insertion of a wire into the artery to open it, using a balloon to allow the blood flow to the heart muscle again.

This is known as a primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) or angioplasty, and can only be done in a hospital equipped with an emergency cath lab.

University Hospital Waterford is a designated cardiac centre but it is the only one that does not operate on a 24/7 basis. It also differs from other centres in having only one cath lab, so when this is closed for whatever reason patients must be diverted to other centres.

The cath lab in Waterford is open five days a week, from 8.30am-5.30pm. The report by Belfast-based cardiologist Niall Herity is believed to recommend an additional eight hours' service a week but comes down against the provision of a second cath lab.

Three cardiologists are employed in Waterford, but this would have to double to provide 24/7 services.