HEART attack patients have today told how they could have died without the fast and excellent care they received at Ipswich Hospital.

HEART attack patients have today told how they could have died without the fast and excellent care they received at Ipswich Hospital.

James Easter a tour operator of Belstead in Ipswich, suffered a heart attack in 2000 after driving himself to Ipswich Hospital when he started to feel unwell.

He said: “But I wouldn't have been able to drive to Norwich, I'd have died on the way and probably killed someone else on the road.

“The care at the hospital was amazing. If I hadn't been able to go to Ipswich Hospital I wouldn't be here.

“What they are trying to do is monstrous. Sooner or later someone will die because they haven't been given the clot-busting drugs.”

Meanwhile Noel Wilson, 63, of Farriers Close, Martlesham Heath, said he was extremely concerned about the impact of the plans.

Dad-of-two Mr Wilson suffered a heart attack in September and was given clot-busting drugs within ten minutes by paramedics and first responders.

He was then taken to Ipswich Hospital where he was treated within an hour and a half of calling for help.

He said: “The care was excellent.

“What concerns me is that with this move the people of Ipswich are going to be in the third division of healthcare, because people in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex will get better treatment.

“People need to be treated within the window of opportunity, so paramedics should at least be able to give them the life-saving drugs.”