PATIENTS waited in their dressing gowns to greet a royal visitor to Dorset County Hospital.

The Earl of Wessex flew into the flagship Dorchester hospital to officially open the new Dorset County Cardiac Centre.

Patients left their wards to see Prince Edward's arrival and watch him welcomed to the site by chairman of the West Dorset General Hospital's Trust Robin SeQueira and its chief executive Jan Bergman.

He was invited on a tour of the new unit but before entering the hospital he was asked to apply antiseptic gel to his hands, like all visitors to the site, to stop the spread of infection.

Senior staff then invited Prince Edward to visit the state-of-the-art echo room to see a echocardiogram in progress as well as visiting the catheter lab and bed area.

He also visited the stroke unit to meet with staff and patients before returning to chat with staff and charity workers from local heart groups, then unveiling a plaque to mark the occasion.

The Dorset County Cardiac Centre started taking patients in October 2004 following the building of a £2 million cardiac catheter suite. The high-tech facility has enabled staff to provide cardiac angiography and pacemaker implantation for the patients of West Dorset. Eight hundred and twenty-six angiograms and 217 pacemaker implantations were completed last year. Since last month the unit has been able to carry out a number of new procedures with more in the pipeline including angioplasty.

Mr SeQueira said he was delighted that the Earl of Wessex had been able to take time out of his busy schedule to open the unit.

He said that up until the unit opened patients had had to travel to Bournemouth and even Southampton for treatment.

He added: "The unit has state-of-the-art equipment and a committed and enthusiastic team.

"We are delighted that we are able to expand our current services to provide a full cardiac interventional and device implantation service for our patients."