Lancashire patients needing a new specialist heart treatment are to be sent to Blackpool.

The service, for people who suffer from a particular type of heart attack known as a STEMI (ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction), has been available only to residents of Blackpool and Fylde Coast for the last two years.

But from Monday, due to an agreement between all five of Lancashire’s primary care trusts, all people living in the county will be able to receive it 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Lancashire Cardiac Centre based in Blackpool Victoria Hospital will provide the primary angioplasty, a high-tech medical intervention known also as Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, or PPCI.

PPCI unblocks blockages in the arteries, typically caused by a fatty deposit, which are stopping blood from flowing to the heart and cause a STEMI heart attack.

Health chiefs said the recommended national target and safe timetable for treatment in hospital was within two-and-a-half hours of a call from the ambulance service.

All areas of Lancashire are said to be this close to Blackpool.

Dr Grahame Goode, Lancashire Cardiac Centre divisional director, said: “If a resident in Lancashire has a STEMI heart attack confirmed by a paramedic, they will be stabilised and taken directly by blue light ambulance to the specialist Lancashire Cardiac Centre at Blackpool Victoria Hospital for treatment.

“When the Lancashire Cardiac Centre judges that they are fit for discharge, they will be discharged from the hospital and seen for follow up at their local hospital.”

Previously they will have been treated by a paramedic or at their local hospital using a clot-busting drug known as thrombolysis.

Dr John Haworth is medical director at NHS East Lancashire, which has invested £191,000 in the service.

He said: “It will save lives, patients who have received it will have a better survival rate following a heart attack.”