It has been claimed that deaths due to heart attacks could be reduced by 50% if a pilot project carried out in north Donegal is extended nationwide.
The project involved the North Western Health Board and GPs in the Inishowen area who were trained to give a clot-busting drug normally administered in hospitals.
The north-west has become the only region nationally where patients suffering heart attacks can receive life saving injections from their GPs - dramatically cutting the average waiting time by up to 140 minutes.
The final report of the NWHB DARTS project (Donegal Area Rapid Treatment Study) has been launched by Minister of State Ivor Callely in the Irish College of General Practitioners today.
The report shows how the NWHB project successfully achieved an average waiting time of 62 minutes - from the patients initial call to medical or emergency services to their receipt of the drug - well within the national target of 90 minutes and dramatically below the current national average of 200 minutes.
