At the helm: A radiographer shows off the In memoriam: The scanner is dedicated to the
new scanner memory of John and Hilda Downton
New ultrasound scanner is ‘fantastic’
Sevenoaks Hospital now has a brand new ultrasound scanner thanks to a £66,000 appeal by the League of Friends.
The Friends raised the money to provide this invaluable facility for patients and outpatients. It included a £10,000 donation from relatives in memory of local residents John Downton – a distinguished artist and musician – and his sister Hilda.
The equipment in the Downton room is an invaluable tool for ultrasonographers from Pembury who perform scans on about 60 obstetric and gynaecological patients a month at Sevenoaks.
Pregnant mothers using the hospital’s ante-natal clinic also benefit from the hi-tech equipment. They are scanned at 12 and 20 weeks and sometimes later to see when the baby is due, whether there is one or more babies, how the child is growing in the womb and to monitor its heart beat and growing bones.
If parents want to know they can learn if their baby is a boy or a girl.
Radiologists from the Kent and Sussex Hospital and ultrasonographers from Maidstone Hospital also perform non-obstetric scans.
The equipment was needed because the old equipment - also provided by the League of Friends – had reached the end of its working life.
Jackie Cox Team Leader Radiographer said: “It is particularly useful for patients who are staying in wards in the hospital. Before we got the equipment elderly patients needing a scan had to be transferred by ambulance to Kent and Sussex Hospital.
“It can measure blood flow in the artery and veins and is fantastic.”
Chairman of the League of Friends Roger Hope said: “I am delighted that we have been able to provide the replacement ultrasound scanner in Sevenoaks which enables patients to be dealt with locally rather than having to travel to Tunbridge Wells.”
Its many uses include detecting gallstones, looking at joints and investigating problems with hip replacements, soft tissue injuries and to see foreign bodies in the eye. It is extremely useful for neck artery and deep vein thrombosis investigations as well as urological and gynaecological uses - and can also be used to study ovarian cysts, tumours and fibroids.
Images can be looked at remotely from other local NHS Trust hospitals.
A feature Important diagnostic service safe for another five years appeared in the Sevenoaks Chronicle on May 21, 2009.
At the door: Debbie Galley, Senior Working tool: The new scanner is
Radiographer by the Downton room used in ante-natal care