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Angina

Checked: 14-03-2024 by Rob Adams Next Review: 11-03-2026

National guidelines

Patients with suspected new onset angina should be referred to one of the Rapid Access Chest Pain Services available at UHB, NBT or WGH unless MI or unstable angina is suspected (see red flags below) or there are contra-indications for these services.

Please also see the Angina section in Clinical Knowledge Summaries for advice on management.

Red Flags

Consider hospital admission for people with the following symptoms, as they may have unstable angina:

  • Pain at rest (which may occur at night).
  • Pain on minimal exertion.
  • Angina that seems to be progressing rapidly despite increasing medical treatment.

If a patient presents in general practice with ongoing cardiac sounding chest pain then call 999 and then take an ECG if this is possible to exclude STEMI.

During normal working hours, please also call the Weekday IUC Professional line on 0117 244 9283 (open Monday to Friday 08:00 - 18:30 but not weekends or bank holidays) as patients without STEMI can often be managed as medically expected which helps streamline their route through the hospital.



Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

Information provided through Remedy is continually updated so please be aware any printed copies may quickly become out of date.