IT'S a case of some you win and some you lose for Blackpool Victoria Hospital this week as it scooped £32.7m of Government cash for a new cardiac centre, but was slammed for being one of the worst in the country for stroke victims.

Work is to start on the state-of-the-art cardiac centre after the Government released £183m yesterday (Wednesday) to expand heart services across the country.

The hospital will also receive £900,000 from the National Lottery's New Opportunities Fund for an additional cardiac catheter laboratory.

The new heart unit will include five cardiac operating theatres, four cardiac catheter laboratories, a 20-bed Intensive Care Unit, more than 100 ward beds, an X-ray room and an out-patient's department.

It will be built next to the maternity unit and is expected to take around four years to complete.

Mr Russell Millner, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon, said: "It is the news we have all been waiting for. It is a fantastic day not only for Blackpool but for the whole of the North West."

This follows the Vic being ranked joint fifth in the UK for coronary artery bypass death rates from 1998-2001 in The Times hospital consultants guide with a ratio of 79.

Mr Millner said: "It is a gratifying reflection of the years of hard work that have been put in by staff."

But the same guide revealed that the Vic has the second highest death rate for stroke patients over a six year period with a mortality ratio of 125.

The Government issued figures over one year and include deaths which occur within 30 days and not just those that just happen in hospital.

A statement issued from the hospital said: "The figures for stroke mortality for the year ending March 2001 are inaccurate. This will also have skewed the six-year mortality ratio.

"Unfortunately the coding of this information was not complete when the data was submitted to the Department of Health.

"The numbers of patients admitted following a stroke from April 2000 to March 31 2001 were 541 -- not 418. This brings down our mortality rate to 32.9 per cent.

"While our death rate is still slightly above the national average, these would be expected, given the population we serve."

Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden said: "Naturally I am concerned that Blackpool is at the bottom of the table for stroke survival rates.

"I will be writing a letter to the chief executive expressing my concerns and asking a number of questions.

"The thing about stroke victims at the Vic is that many are elderly and it's the general rehabilitation that needs to be looked at. I will be asking David Gill for chapter and verse on this.

"As for the news of the cardiac unit I am extremely pleased the funding has finally been confirmed. It's a tribute to the hard work of the hospital putting its case forward."

The first phase of the cardiac unit project is the development of a multi-storey car park. Work will start this week and is expected to take 32 weeks.