Last night the team from thebestofworthing attended the launch event at Food Restaurant in Worthing. The appeal is to build a second catheterisation laboratory in the hospital’s cardiac unit and fundraisers will now begin the countdown to the campaign’s first major event – a Superhero Fun Run and Walk along Worthing seafront on Sunday 4 September.

Batman and the Batmobile were on hand at the launch to join the charity’s call for local people to dress up as their favourite superhero and take part in the sponsored event, which starts at 3pm in front of Worthing Lido.

The team at thebestofworthing will be taking part in the Superhero Fun Run and if you wish to sponsor us or make a donation please visit our Just Giving page.
www.justgiving.com/thebestofworthing.

Love Your Hospital’s Head of Charity Operations, Lesley-Anne Lloyd, said: “Everyone has their own superhero – they might be a father, mother or grandparent – but our superheroes are the doctors, nurses and other hospital workers who save your superheroes’ lives.

“The £1 million Cardiac Unit Appeal is an opportunity for everyone to help our superheroes care for your superheroes as best they possibly can. Come as your favourite superhero or just come as you are – we’re all superheroes at heart!”

Cardiac catheterisation laboratories are used to carry out a variety of potentially life-saving heart procedures, investigations and therapies such as angiograms, which identify blockages in the coronary arteries that supply the heart muscle, and angioplasty, a method of clearing these obstructed or narrowed blood vessels.

Worthing Hospital acquired its first laboratory in 2004 and it has proved so successful that a second one is now required to continue expanding the availability of the service to people throughout western Sussex. When the second laboratory is in place, patients in the Chichester area, for example, will no longer have to travel to Southampton for this type of treatment.

The new facility will also allow the hospital to develop innovations in specialist treatment and enable more patients to go home on the same day they are treated. And increasing capacity will reduce the risk of operations being cancelled and aid patient safety through improved access to specialised care in emergency situations.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Mark Signy said: “Time is of the essence whenever a patient comes in with a heart attack – ideally we need to carry out the angioplasty procedure within an hour of the patient’s arrival. But some of the planned procedures we undertake in the lab take a long time and can’t be interrupted, so having a second facility will allow us to treat emergencies alongside more routine cases rather than having to make them wait.

“The new lab will also allow us to do more of our patients from West Sussex in West Sussex.  It will really make a huge difference to the care we can provide all round.”

For more information about the £1 million Worthing Hospital Cardiac Unit Appeal or to obtain a Superhero Fun Run and Walk sponsorship pack, please contact Love Your Hospital on 0800 028 4890 or by emailing hello@loveyourhospital.org.