Specialist cardiology nurse ‘highly commended’ at top award ceremony

A cardiology specialist nurse has been recognised at a prestigious awards ceremony for successfully reducing waiting times for patients through his community based service.

Nigel Bond, a community chest pain nurse, was highly commended in the Rising Star category of the BHF Alliance Awards presented at this year’s British Cardiovascular Society meeting.

Nigel, who runs his chest pain clinic in Ysbyty Dolgellau, Ysbyty Alltwen and Llandudno Hospital, was recognised for leading the development of community-based cardiac services that have successfully reduced waiting times, and for his commitment to providing holistic care that puts the patient and their family first.

Nigel, who lives the Buckley area, said he was delighted to receive the recognition and hopes to develop the service over the next few years.

“It was fantastic to have the service recognised by the BHF and shows we are now moving forward,” said Nigel.

“This is certainly a team effort – without the rest of the team the service would never have developed the way it has so it’s great for us all to receive this recognition.”

Patients are referred to Nigel’s clinics through their GPs where they are assessed and undergo tests to discover what could be the cause of their chest pain.

The service has proved a huge success since it began in November 2017 with waiting times for patients referred by their GP reducing from eight weeks to two weeks.

Nigel continued: “We can prescribe patents medication when they attend the clinic and spend that extra bit of time with them to see if there is anything else we can help them with such as ways to become healthier or to stop smoking.

“There can be many different things which can cause chest pain and it’s important we have this service so we can spend time with each patient to find out if there any other causes for their chest pain.”