The cardiac cath lab at Albury hospital is still under construction, but cardiac services project manager Louise Coote gave the media a tour on Monday of the building site next to the existing theatres.

“The reason the cath lab’s being built out there is to maintain that sterile corridor, so it’s just literally a fifth theatre put on the end,” she said.

A $5 million project, the building works include increasing the capacity of the day procedure unit from seven to 12 beds, expanding the waiting area and adding two new consulting rooms.

The first patient is scheduled for July 2, with the cath lab to begin as a diagnostic service of two half-days a week.

“In the first instance that is around eight patients a week for diagnostic,” Ms Coote said.

“Next year we’ll be looking at 16 patients a week, and that will gradually build over time. 

“You can’t just start a cath lab at fully interventional, it’s just not safe.

“So we’ll start in a limited way with a high level of governance to keep the patient safe.”

Led by the hospital’s first full-time staff cardiologist, soon to be announced, the cath lab will begin procedures such as stents and pace makers early next year.

“We’ll increase our nursing staff and also increase the skills of the nursing staff to be able to work with these more acute cardiac patients,” Ms Coote said.

An extra shell of a room has also been built, ready for the future.

“It’s empty but it will allow us in, maybe, five years to put in another catheter lab,” she said.

The new Philips Azurion X-ray machine took six people to shift into the cath lab between 3am and 6am on Sunday.

Philips project manager Lachlan Trickey said the transfer went smoothly, with installation continuing this week and calibrations to begin next Monday.

Mr Trickey said the Albury Wodonga Health model would be the first in Victoria to be mechanically operational, although others would then be used to treat patients earlier.

“These are the machines that help save lives,” he said.