A GRANDDAD who suffered a heart attack has said he feels 'dejected' thousands of pounds was spent on his saving his life but health chiefs in the town will not pay for the final part of his recovery.

David Hunt, from Paddington, suffered the major heart attack while he was in Snowdonia in October but was stunned to find a cardiac rehabilitation course, which the British Heart Foundation says could reduce the risk of further attacks by 26 per cent, was not available in Warrington.

The 69-year-old said: "I felt fine during the day but suddenly the pain hit me like a bolt through my chest.

"I was told several days later it was most likely the prompt action of the ambulance crew and Bangor Hospital that saved my life before I spent four days in intensive care at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital.

"I left the hospital promising the doctor that I would go on a cardiac rehabilitation course when I got back home, which was essential to aid my recovery, but was then told it was not funded in Warrington."

Hundreds of authorities across the country provide the course, which helps build the heart muscles back up, which means the former office manager now has to resort to a 29-mile round trip to Knowsley to complete the physical course.

He added: "The heart attack affected my whole body and when I first got out of hospital I couldn't make it to the corner of the road without being out of breath.

"Twenty per cent of my heart muscle has gone so I have been building the other 80 per cent to compensate.

"I can't understand that the ambulance service spent a couple of thousand pounds to save my life and Liverpool hospital the same on treatment over 11 days, yet my home health service were not prepared to spend a much smaller amount on a course to complete my recovery.

"Fortunately the course in Knowlsey were happy to take me on and have been brilliant and made a big difference to me."

Dr Andy Davies, clinical chief officer, said NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning group (CCG) has commissioned Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to provide cardiac rehabilitation for patients who have had a heart attack, also known as MI or myocardial infarction.

He added: "At the moment, a specific cardiac rehabilitation service is not currently available in Warrington for patients diagnosed with heart failure.

"Patients do however have access to one-to-one advice from an expert team of community nurses."

He said the CCG will be looking at the provision of the course, which provides a mixture of education and exercises for patients with heart failure or following a heart attack, and hope to commission a pilot in the new year to 'ascertain if there is a demand'.