Mayor scans through Infirmary

Date published: 08/10/2009

The Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale were invited to a special behind the scenes tour of Rochdale Infirmary this week to meet staff and patients.

As part of their formal visit, Councillor Keith Swift and Ms Susanne Etchells were shown around the infirmary’s new integrated healthcare facility following the transfer of the town’s Walk in Centre and GP out-of-hours service into the A&E department in August.

They also visited staff and patients in the children’s unit and were shown the infirmary’s recently installed CT scanner and MR scanner in operation.

The £800,000 MR scanner, which was officially unveiled by former mayor, Councillor Ashley Dearnley, in 2006, now performs more than 5,000 MR examinations per year.

Magnetic resonance (MR) scans are recommended as a diagnostic tool for an increasing range of conditions. The scanner allows images of tissue in most parts of the body to be produced without undertaking invasive procedures on patients. The Trust has seen a steady increase in demand for MR scans year on year since 2002.

Dr Ramesh Raja, lead consultant radiologist at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the infirmary, said: “Early detection of problems is the first step to swift and successful treatment – for example in relation to cancer treatment. MR scans enable patients to have more targeted surgery, radiotherapy and drug treatments. The scanner helps improve diagnosis, treatment and waiting times in treating cancer, orthopaedic, neurology, vascular and surgical patients.”

The Trust also last year installed a new £600,000 CT scanner at the infirmary. A CT scan, sometimes called a CAT scan, takes x-rays of patients through different planes of the body and uses a computer to piece them together and generate images for clinical diagnosis. The pictures produced by CT scans are called tomograms. The CT scanner is particularly useful for examining the head, chest and abdomen, for example, CT colonography and cardiac CT.

Both the MR and CT scanners at Rochdale Infirmary play a key part in the Trust’s cancer treatment strategy. The Trust has recently published its Strategy for the Delivery of Cancer Services for the 3 year period 1 April 2009 – 31 March 2012. The strategy outlines plans for the development of cancer services and will be monitored by the Trust’s Pennine Acute Cancer Committee. A cancer annual report will be produced each year to report progress against the strategy.

The Mayoral visit was hosted by Trust Chairman, John Jesky. He said: “It was a pleasure to show the Mayor and Mayoress around Rochdale Infirmary to see the developments in health care, some of our services we provide and to meet patients and staff. We are proud of the services we provide and the investment we have made, and continue to make, in new technologies and state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment. I would like to thank the Mayor for taking time to visit.”

The Mayor, Councillor Keith Swift, said: “I’m really pleased to see the very best of modern medical technology being used to the benefit of the people of the borough. The staff here are really conscientious and professional in the services they provide and the ongoing training they undergo. The patients that we’ve met and spoken with today have been very complementary to the services and staff and continue to choose to come to Rochdale Infirmary for treatment; a pat on the back for everyone concerned.”