The Cardiology teams use portable heart monitors to record a patient’s heart rhythm to look for any abnormalities. Sometimes a patient’s heart goes too slowly, too fast, or doesn’t beat regularly – these are all findings that the team look for with standard heart monitors which are fitted to patients of all ages (new-born to adult) for anywhere between 24 hours and 7 days.

The new Eclipse monitors would make wearing a monitor easier for patients. The monitors are lightweight, can be worn in the shower, and with the ‘accelerometer’ feature the cardiac team can clearly see what a patient’s heart is doing even if they are exercising. There are also features on the new monitors which will help to increase the speed at which the heart data can be analysed, leading to more efficient results and therefore treatment for cardiac patients.

The ability to continuously monitor using these new devices will provide more certainty in highlighting abnormal traces which could indicate increased risk of stroke and other cardiac conditions.

for the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester and Basingstoke & North Hampshire Hospital, Basingstoke