LIFESAVING equipment has been donated to Ipswich Hospital by grateful heart patients.

LIFESAVING equipment has been donated to Ipswich Hospital by grateful heart patients.

Heartbeat East Suffolk, a heart disease support group, gave the hospital's cardiology department two electrocardiogram (ECG) machines and a digital recorder as a thank you for the fantastic care provided by the unit.

One ECG, which records the electrical activity of the heart, was given to the Angio Suite in memory of Madeline Taylor, a trustee of Heartbeat East Suffolk who died last year.

The other ECG was given to the department's Clinic G and the digital recorder, used to record a patient's heart rhythms, will be used by patients attending the Allington Clinic.

Tony Ramsey from Heartbeat East Suffolk said: “The equipment cost about £6,500 in total.

“We got £1,500 from Madeline's will and donations instead of flowers after she died, and the rest was from fundraising.

“The health service should be able to provide this equipment itself but it can't, so we help.

“We buy toilet bags which patients get when they turn up and they cost £1 each but we spend about £1,000 a year because heart disease affects so many people.

“The hospital never has enough equipment so we like to help whenever we can.

“We even put fans by the beds so people can cool down in the summer.”

Heartbeat also runs exercise classes and provides support for people suffering from heart disease and their families.

For more information about the group, call Tessa Hawes on 01473 610212 or visit www.heartbeat.eastsuffolk.btinternet.co.uk.

Have you given Ipswich Hospital new equipment? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.