Mobile CT Scanner helps cut waiting times

Thursday 17 January 2019

HSC says it is cutting waiting times with the help of a mobile CT Scanner which its brought to the island to 'improve radiology services', along with other changes planned at the PEH.

The mobile scanner was here last weekend, and has been promised to return during future busy spells so no one is left waiting for too long.

Health & Social Care said it is "pleased to report that it has made a series of changes to bring waiting times down and improve the radiology service over the last year in response to ever increasing demand for complex imaging, which is reflected within the UK and internationally."

By that, HSC means the mobile CT Scanner, but it is also planning to replace the island's existing CT Scanner, which is now 11-years-old.

The scanners are used by clinical staff to look at each patient's anatomy and pathology to ensure the correct ttreatment is used. HSC said it is a particularly important piece of kit, "particularly for trauma and oncology imaging."

Pictured: Waiting times for some services should be cut at the PEH with the introduction of a mobile CT Scanner.

HSC said it has to make some new arrangements as there's "increasing demands" for CT Scanning, which had led to "growing waiting times for some MRI and Ultrasound examinations."

HSC said those waiting times have already bee "significantly reduced with the majority of patients for these examinations now being scanned within three weeks of being referred by the doctor."

The committee has also replaced all Ultrasound equipment in Guernsey and Alderney which it said will ensure both clinicians and patients benefit from the latest technology. 

From now on, data will also be sent off island - securely - so consultant radiologists elsewhere can help the local staff. That could mean specialists in Australia are asked to give their opinion on scans from Guernsey patients, meaning that work can take place through the night here without waking local radiologists during working hours elsewhere.

Other changes being made to local practices will see the wait times for cardiac CT scans reduced, after the waiting time grew with demand, after a six fold increase in just a year.

The guildelines for best practice guidance has changed and the mobile CT Scanner which was here last weekend, will be able to be used for patients with suspected coronary artery disease on its future visits.

HSC said; "the mobile CT equipment, which is housed in a self-contained mobile trailer, will enable the on-island provision of the service where the patients have the contrast medium injected into a vein in their arm and the images are obtained within a few minutes."

Pictured: The Committee for Health and Social Care is hoping to cut waiting lists with the help of the mobile CT Scanner. 

While it was here last weekend, the mobile unit scanned around 70 cases in just three days, with HSC saying patients appeared to have been very satisfied with the service. The visiting staff were also said to have been very pleased with the support offered by the staff at PEH. 

The scanner owned by Guernsey, at the PEH, is going to be replaced in August - as it is older and much slower than new models, including the visiting one. HSC is planning to buy a new one, "with the very latest generation of technology to support the Radiology Department."

Alastair Richards, PEH Radiology Manager, said: 

"The mobile CT unit provides an excellent, flexible resource for the provision of care to our patients. As best practice changes, and demand increases for our services, the significant programme of investment being made to upgrade our permanent scanning equipment will deliver our professionals excellent resources to deliver the next generation of care we want to provide to our community."

Peter Rabey, HSC Medical Director, said: 

"Demand for complex scanning continues to increase and I am particularly pleased that the PEH will have the very latest technology available within its Radiology Department this summer to deliver the standard of care our public rightly expect. Waiting times for coronary artery disease will be shorter through the use of the mobile unit, and scans can be delivered faster and more efficiently through the use of our incoming permanent replacement."

Pictured top: A CT Scanner (file image).