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Rapid Cardiology
Rapid Cardiology is a cardiology clinic for patients newly referred for early assessment and investigation of symptoms including chest pain/discomfort, breathlessness and palpitations. The clinics are led by cardiology nurse specialists and cardiology clinical assistants. Patients are assessed and may have further tests such as ECGs, echocardiograms, ambulatory/ECG monitoring or exercise tolerance tests (this is where patients walk on an exercise treadmill with heart and blood pressure monitoring) and myoview scans. These investigations are carried out by cardiac physiologists. A referral to the clinic will be made by your GP or the Emergency Department.
Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic
This clinic is run within the Rapid Cardiology Clinic and is particularly for patients with new onset exertional chest pain. Patients are seen within two weeks of referral by their GP and are assessed as described above.
It is important that patients referred to these clinics have blood tests, liver function tests, thyroid function tests, full blood count and ECG to exclude underlying causes. These will be arranged by your GP if you are referred to this clinic.
Common Cardiac Tests
If your doctor is investigating whether or not you have heart disease, you may well undergo a variety of tests on the heart. The following paragraphs tell you about how the most common of these tests work and what kind of information they give.