I was recently invited to the opening of our new CT scanning facility behind Ferguson House at St Helier. After meeting those involved with the project, I was invited to cut the ribbon and declare the fully accessible and COVID secure unit open for business! 

We already have two scanners at St Helier Hospital, both of which are located in the Mackenzie Unit, but this new scanner - introduced for infection control reasons - will increase our CT scanning capacity and allow us to provide truly outstanding care to every patient using the service. The location of the scanner means that patients don't need to enter the hospital to access it, so it will remain a safe area for patients. The facility will soon operate seven days a week, and will be providing scans for patients from 8am-8pm in order to provide increased capacity.  

St Helier received the scanner through COVID-19 related funding from NHS England and Improvement, but in order to make the service completely standalone the Trust also invested an additional £80,000 to provide a reporting area and accessible WC (which will allow us to undertake complex CT colon work). I was particularly impressed with the speed at which our staff were able to make this service operational - projects such as this usually take around six months to complete, but, after receiving the initial funding in end of July, through hard work and determination the team were able to get our new scanner up and running within three months. Now that it is open, the scanner will be used for CT colons, general CT scans, and contrast CT scans; the green reporting room allows for radiologists to be on site, enabling us to run contrast lists for patients.