THE first patient in Wyre Forest has been successfully treated with life-saving clotbusting drugs.

The man, who has not been named, was treated last Friday morning after suffering a heart attack. He is comfortable at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Hereford and Worcester Ambulance NHS Trust welcomed it as a major step forward in the treatment of heart attack patients in the area.

The drugs are seen as vital for the care of patients being rushed to Worcester after the loss of Kidderminster Hospital's blue-light A and E, where they were previously taken to, in September 2000.

However, Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor stressed the drug was meant to be up and running when the hospital downgrading occurred.

He said: "I welcome the fact that the drug is now in usage but Worcestershire Health Authority led us to believe it would be implemented when the hospital was downgraded.

"It is more than 18 months too late but I suppose better late than never. However, it does not compensate for the fact we had a door-to-needle time of nine minutes in this area before the changes."

The vital drugs, which dissolve the clot, came on board in the district last Monday.

The procedure uses new technology in the form of medical telemetry. Medical information, including an ECG, is transmitted from the patient in an ambulance to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

A doctor at the hospital is able to make an immediate diagnosis and prescribe the life-saving drugs which are given by paramedics in the ambulance.

Trust clinical services director Brian Chambers thought it "strange" the drugs introduction had been dubbed delayed as it had been introduced two years ahead of Government deadlines.

He added: "These drugs have been available in hospitals for some years but their effectiveness depends upon how quickly they are given after the heart attack.

"The introduction of this scheme is set to increase the speed with which the treatment is given, thus helping to save more lives."

Under Government targets a paramedic ambulance should reach a patient within eight minutes of a 999 call being received.

Mr Chambers said it took the ambulance in Friday's incident just over eight minutes to reach the house in an area of Kidderminster, which has not been revealed.