Preston heart patients are 'at risk' from slow transfers to Lancashire Cardiac Centre, coroner says

A coroner has warned that heart patients from Preston and Chorley are among those “at risk” from slow transfers to the Lancashire Cardiac Centre in Blackpool.

Alan Wilson, a senior coroner at Blackpool and Fylde, made the warning in a prevention of future deaths report issued to Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, after 67-year-old Roland Jean Michaud died of heart disease after being transferred to the centre from Furness General Hospital.

He was found to have died from natural causes, but the coroner said the circumstances of his death - which included poor record keeping and a lack of staff - showed how patients from Preston, Chorley, Lancaster, and Furness weren’t getting transferred in a “timely manner”.

In the four weeks before he died, Roland experienced multiple episodes of moderate chest pain, and received treatment at his local hospital before his issues became severe enough to be referred to the Lancashire Cardiac Centre, which is based in Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

When he was transferred on December 30 2025, he underwent a diagnostic coronary angiography - a surgery which allows doctors to look for narrow arteries or blockages to the heart.

Despite initially feeling fine after the procedure, an hour later, he reported being short of breath. He was found to be “noticeably unwell” with low blood pressure, and then went into a fatal cardiac arrest.

While the coroner said it couldn’t be guaranteed that an earlier transfer to Blackpool Victoria Hospital may have saved his life, he said that heart patients whose conditions were not of immediate concern were facing repeated delays to being referred to the Lancashire Cardiac Centre.

Patients who are referred to the Lancashire Cardiac Centre are split into two pathways: the Primary Coronary Intervention (PCI) pathway, and the Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) pathway.

The PCI pathway is for patients with severe symptoms, who may be at high risk of suffering a heart attack or other medical emergency. The coroner said he had no concerns about patients on this pathway.

The ACS pathway is for patients like Roland, whose symptoms may appear less severe at first, and who are not seen to be at immediate risk. The coroner said it was patients on this pathway who were most at risk for delayed referrals.

During the inquest, the coroner found that doctors at Blackpool had “a lack of understanding about the Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) pathway and what is expected”, despite receiving up to 126 referrals each month.

The hospital had a limited number of cardiac coordinators, and no cardiac care-coordinators working at all over weekends and bank holidays, despite a high number of cardiac patients.

He also said patients were being put at further risk due to poor record keeping.

In response, the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said that their cardiac team was fully staffed, but they will review their response times, transfer delays, workload, and out-of-hours activity to see if any changes are required.

They said they will review the availability of cardiac coordinators over weekends and bank holidays, as well as the number of referrals they get each month.

They will also revise their procedures for patients on the ACS pathway to make it clearer to staff, and have now set a ‘minimum documentation standard’ to improve record keeping in its hospitals.

A copy of the report has been issued to Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.