HEART patients' experience of diagnosis and care at Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital will be transformed by its new cardiology unit, says one of its specialists.

The first patients have been seen at the £5 million facility, successfully completing a three-year planning and building programme. For the first time, there is a dedicated eight-bed ward at the hospital for patients having angiograms, a diagnostic test, in the unit's new cardiac catherisation laboratory.

The lab will also be used for the implanting of pacemakers. There are also four echocardiogram rooms, two stress test labs - doubling the previous capacity - and three clinic rooms.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Nigel Brown, clinical director of cardiology for Gwent Healthcare Trust, said the new unit will enable the cardiology team to carry out more heart tests, fewer patients will have to travel to Cardiff to have them done, and waiting times should fall.

"We'll be able to do four sessions (of angiography) a week, about 16 patients. Currently we can do at most eight a week," he said.

"Next year we hope to get up to 24 a week when we recruit more cardiologists. We are meeting the four-month waiting time target for angiography, although it can be difficult at times, but two months is the aim.

"Patients will come into the ward and after a few checks they will have their angiogram and they will need four hours' bed rest afterwards. "Before the unit was built, there were no dedicated cardiology beds. We had to borrow beds in urology, so this is a big improvement."

The ward has been named after Bill Hobbs, a heart patient and stalwart campaigner for the Royal Gwent Cardiology Fund charity, who died last year. The fund has paid for £80,000 worth of equipment and will continue to raise money for other items.

The aim is to use two of the four echocardiogram rooms for outpatients, and two for inpatients, with the stress labs being similarly divided. Paid for by the Assembly, with input from the Big Lottery Fund, the unit will help meet rapidly rising demand. Outpatient cardiac referrals in Gwent have doubled to 4,500 in two years.

The unit also boasts a room for training junior doctors, nurses, technicians and other staff, paid for by Gwent Healthcare Trust's postgraduate education department.

"This is a huge step forward for heart patients in Gwent and for staff," said Dr Brown.