Cardiology

The Royal Berkshire Hospital's cardiology department offers a comprehensive range of outpatient and inpatient services. Our inpatients are currently treated at the Royal Berkshire Hospital site. In addition to the services provided at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, outpatient services are available at Townlands Memorial Hospital, Bracknell Healthspace, and West Berkshire Community Hospital.

The department provides a primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) service that operates 24/7, ensuring prompt and efficient treatment for patients with coronary conditions. Additionally, our dedicated clinical nurse specialist team is responsible for delivering comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation and ambulatory heart failure services, offering specialized care and support to patients in need.

The department addresses a range of cardiac conditions and symptoms, including:

• Arrhythmias and Palpitations
• Breathlessness
• Cardiac pacemaker and Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD)
• Cardiomyopathy
• Chest pain
• Diseases of the thoracic aorta
• Heart failure
• Hypertension
• Inherited cardiac conditions
• Ischaemic heart disease
• Pericardial disease
• Syncope (blackout)
• Valvular heart disease

Our team is experienced in diagnosing, managing, and treating these conditions, providing comprehensive care to our patients.

Investigations, Clinics & Treatments provided

The department offers a wide range of specialized services and clinics for various cardiac conditions, including:

• Ablation procedures for atrial flutter and supraventricular tachycardia (SVT)
• Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
• Ambulatory ECG monitoring
• Arrhythmia clinics
• Cardiomyopathy clinics
• Complex echocardiograms using techniques such as dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE), exercise bike stress echocardiography (E-Bike), transesophageal echocardiograms (TOEs), bubble studies, and contrast studies
• Complex implantable devices such as Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs) and Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) devices
• Clinics dedicated to congenital heart disease
• Coronary angioplasty procedures (also known as percutaneous coronary interventions or PCIs)
• DC Cardioversion
• Diagnostic coronary angiograms
• Echocardiography, which involves cardiac ultrasound scans
• Electrocardiograms (ECGs)
• Exercise treadmill tests
• General cardiology clinics
• Implantable Cardiac Monitoring
• Joint Cardiology and Obstetric clinics for pregnant patients with cardiac conditions
• Pacemaker implants
• Patient-activated ECG monitoring
• Clinics specialising in pulmonary hypertension
• Rapid access chest pain clinics

These services aim to provide comprehensive and specialised care to address the diverse needs of our patients.