September 4, 2013 4.10 pm This story is over 127 months old

Duke of Kent officially opens Lincoln heart centre

Royal visit: The Duke of Kent visited Lincoln County Hospital to bless the new heart centre.
HRH The Duke of Kent unveiling the plaque next to Clinical Lead for the Lincolnshire Heart Centre Dr David O’Brien. Photo: ULHT

HRH the Duke of Kent visited Lincoln County Hospital on Wednesday, September 4 to officially open the Lincolnshire Heart Centre.

At the heart unit, which was completed in January, the Duke of Kent took a tour of the facilities, met with staff and unveiled a special opening plaque.

Born in 1935, The Duke of Kent is the son of the late Prince George. He is cousin to both The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. The present Duke of Kent inherited his title following the early death of his father in 1942.

Since its opening, the £4.8 million centre has carried out 250 emergency procedures and over 1,600 procedures in total. The centre provides direct access for ambulances, plus new cardiac catheterisation laboratories, a new recovery unit and cardiac short stay unit.

The unit can help so many people due to a procedure carried out called coronary angioplasty, where a small balloon opens a blocked artery, followed by the implantation of a metal scaffold called a stent. It is the most effective treatment for patients suffering from severe forms of a heart attack.