Heart hospital worker has heart attack on shift

A switchboard call handler at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital (LHCH) has described having a heart attack at work as being like "a bad dream".

Pat Ward, 70, has worked for the hospital for almost 50 years and was taking a taxi to work when she began to feel unwell last year.

By the time she got to work, her jaw and chest pain had worsened. Pat said: "I felt like my chest was caving in" and told her colleague she thought she was having a heart attack.

Reacting quickly, her colleague raised the alarm to specialists across the hospital.

Medics assessed Pat and within minutes were performing an emergency treatment to unblock the coronary artery.

Pat recovered from the life-saving procedure and received rehabilitation that encouraged her to make "small changes to become more active, move more and go on walks".

Dr Jonathan Hasleton, the consultant cardiologist who treated her, said: "Pat came to us at the point where minutes genuinely matter and the reason she did so well is that the people around her recognised what was happening and acted straight away.

"The message I would want people to take from Pat's story is not to wait. If you have chest pain, or pain in the jaw, neck or arms, particularly with breathlessness, nausea or sweating, call 999," he continued.

"People very often talk themselves out of it and that delay is what does the damage."

Pat is now back at work and has been reflecting on the care she received. She described the heart attack as "a bad dream", but added: "Lucky for me, I was at the right place at the right time."

After 50 years at the hospital, Pat said staff had to restrict visiting on the ward because so many colleagues were checking in on her.

"I was treated like a queen," she said.

Now, the hospital is encouraging people to be aware of the symptoms of a heart attack and to seek urgent medical help if they experience warning signs such as:

• Chest pain
• Discomfort in the jaw, neck or arms
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea
• Sudden sweating

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.