RECOVERING cardiac patients can call on a listening ear thanks to new support line.

Volunteers from the Bolton ICD Support Group will now be manning two new mobile phones to offer advice to people fitted with electrical devices to aid their heart rhythm.

The volunteers do not offer clinical advice but say they can lend a “friendly ear” as well as advice for families of patients fitted with Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators (ICDs).

Tracey Wilkinson, fundraiser at the Bolton ICD Support Group, said: “The idea is that people with ICDs can call us if they have any worries.

“All of our members have experience with ICDs or even have one themselves, which means they can either point people in the right direction for clinical help or offer some advice. We also have access to literature and information about defibrillators.”

An ICD is an electrical device designed to treat people with abnormal heart rhythms.

Arrhythmias, can cause the heart to beat too quickly, too slowly or in an irregular pattern.

These heart rhythms can happen suddenly and sometimes people die as a result.

An ICD, fitted below the collar bone, can give the heart electric pulses or shocks to get the rhythm back to normal.

The Bolton ICD Support Group was originally set up in 2006 to support patients, families and carers after an ICD has been implanted in a patient. It also raises cash and purchases external defibrillators for schools and community groups.

The group was able to buy the new phones after winning the £100 challenge run by Bolton CVS and the Bolton Law Society.

Information on boltonicd supportgroup.wordpress.com.