Heart cash

Blackpool NHS Trust - �33m Liverpool - �39m Southampton - �35m Morriston Hospital, Swansea - �2.7m University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff - �3.7m Source: Welsh Cardiac Society

Cardiologists there now have 10 dedicated heart investigation laboratories while Wales's regional heart centres in Cardiff and Swansea have three between them.

Waiting lists to see a cardiologist in Wales are now two years long - the result of a lack of investment by the Welsh Assembly, according to the cardiac group.

Members have said there has been little reduction in waiting times since the health minister published key pledges last year.

There are claims that under-funding has caused health professionals to rule out taking up jobs at Welsh hospitals, followed by a warning that some patients will die while awaiting diagnosis.

Cardiac strategy

Last week, Welsh Health Minister Jane Hutt said waiting lists for heart surgery had been reduced to one year.

But surgery follows a two year wait for diagnosis as well an additional nine-month wait for a crucial angiogram - an x-ray of the heart.

Cardiac society members said investment at Welsh hospitals differed from those in England:

Wales has a record of heart disease which is among the worst in Europe - one of the country's biggest killers.

Jane Hutt told BBC Radio Wales cardiology was "top of her agenda."

And, she said, instances of the disease were falling after she published last year's National Strategic Framework on Heart Disease.

English patients

University of Wales Hospital cardiologist Dr Mike Fisher said Welsh services were worse off than those in England.

"The very good guidelines on how heart disease should be treated in England and Wales, came out much earlier in England," he said.

"The English system has responded much more quickly.

"Consequently, Liverpool and Bristol have advertised three consultant cardiology jobs.

"When you have units putting out whole services like that, people who want to look after patients will be attracted."

Jane Hutt was insistent that no-one was waiting over 12 months for heart operations.

"We are increasing the number of specialist registrars - the people who will become our cardiologists," she said.

"This is not something you can do overnight and we started from a low base in Wales."

Extra capacity at the University Hospital of Wales and Morriston meant an extra 600 heart operations would be carried out this year, she said.

But cardiologists remain concerned patients cannot get as far as a diagnosis.

On Friday, cardiac society members are holding press conference in the Vale of Glamorgan near Cardiff, to highlight their concerns.