TWO out of three specialist heart teams shortlisted for a national award are from the North-East.

When the winners of the Hospital Doctor Cardiovascular Team of the Year award is announced on November 22, there is a good chance it will go to teams from Darlington Memorial Hospital or The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

Both teams work closely together, with many heart patients from South Durham and the Tees Valley treated at both centres.

While press coverage in recent years has tended to focus on the huge increase of heart bypass operations carried out at the Middlesbrough hospital, spectacular improvements to heart services provided by the Darlington hospital has closed the gap.

There are also long-term plans to boost cardiovascular research in the south of the region by establishing a professorship at Durham University.

Dr Jerry Murphy, who heads the Darlington cardiovascular team, said the centre provided a range of services.

While specialist doctors and nurses do not perform bypass surgery, recent improvements to the Darlington hospital, including the opening of a catheter lab, has allowed specialist staff to perform diagnostic angiograms, run a rapid access chest pain clinic and install pacemakers.

Another specialist function performed at Darlington is using the hospital's MRI scanner to diagnose heart complaints.

There is also an integrated heart failure service, which links hospital services to support services in the community, including exercise schemes at Eastbourne Sports Complex.

Dr Jim Hall, from the James Cook hospital, said it had made great strides in recent years and offered a wide range of services.

The unit has attracted national attention because of its pioneering use of primary angioplasty -a new way of treating heart attack patients that appears to have saved a significant number of lives.

He said: "We are particularly proud of our innovative use of data. We review and redesign our processes all of the time."

In recent years, the number of heart bypass operations carried out by Middlesbrough surgeons has increased dramatically.

The other heart unit shortlisted is St George's Hospital, in South London.