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Images of the past, present and future of the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
The West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT) holds a unique place in the lives of local people, who are welcome to attend its annual members’ meeting and healthcare marketplace on Tuesday, 24 September in The Apex in Bury St Edmunds.
The event will also mark the 50th anniversary of the West Suffolk Hospital (WSH), with archive material on show, and the chance to hear from a few of the thousands of staff who have served the people of Suffolk for decades.
The annual members’ meeting will include a review of the past 12 months at the Trust by chief executive Dr Ewen Cameron. A special focus on the past, present and future of diagnostic imaging will explore an area of healthcare that has undergone seismic change in the past 50 years, and plays a vital role in diagnosis, treatment and screening to help prevent ill-health.
Nigel Beeton, a radiographer who was the WSFT’s manager of imaging services for decades, will be featured in a video in which he traces the major changes in the technology and what this has meant for the health of our community. There will be talks from current members of the radiology team, and the Trust’s research and development team will highlight innovative work being undertaken to support and advance patient care.
Nigel said: “I joined the Trust in January 1983 as a qualified radiographer, to expand my practice through training as a nuclear medicine radiographer - a new field then - which uses radio isotopes to track chemistry through the body. When I walked through the door, the West Suffolk Hospital had six X-ray machines, and a few basic ultrasound machines – no CT scanner, no MRI.
“Everything that’s now computer controlled was run manually – lots of blinking lights and needles on control panels, which sometimes had to be managed in the pitch dark. The only screening we did was antenatal, to measure the size of the baby. In the early days of mammography (breast imaging) the patient just had to stand pressed up against the X-Ray machine. We’ve been doing breast screening with purpose-built machines for about 30 years, allowing us to detect cancers and save lives.”
Nigel saw the country’s first CT (computerised tomography) machine in action in the early 80s in London, when it took 45 minutes to scan a head – something which can now be done in seconds.
“By the late 1980s it was clear we needed a CT scanner, but there was no funding to buy one, so we set about raising the £750,000 (£1.6 million now) ourselves. Bill Treacher, who lived locally and was known for playing Arthur Fowler in EastEnders, chaired the campaign and other local celebrities supported it. The community really rallied round – one lady even went wing-walking! – and by 1990 we were able to get our own scanner, and it was a massive change.” An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner followed in the late 1990s, and advances in ultrasound technology have also allowed more complex diagnoses to be achieved – for example, picking up cleft palate before birth.
Nigel said: “We now have wonderful pieces of technology being used to improve patients’ health, and allow more proactive management of health, with screening and prevention of illness and disease. At the same time, we will always need to reassure patients and provide the human interaction during what can be a rather scary process. I don’t think a computer will ever be able to do that.”
In the foyer and first floor of The Apex, a marketplace with stands from partner organisations in the health, care and voluntary sector will give attendees the opportunity to access health testing, find out more about the support available to them, and the ways in which they can look after their own health and wellbeing.
The doors open at 3.30pm, with the main presentations in the auditorium between 5.30pm and 6.35pm. The cattle market car park is a short walk away, and parking is free on Tuesdays from 3.00pm. Members and non-members are welcome.
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