CHILDREN can now watch films while having an MRI scan at Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI), thanks to a new state-of-the-art video screen inside the scanner.
The specialist ‘Relax and View’ machine, which plays films and videos while children and young people are having scans, has been donated to BRI’s Radiology department by Bradford Hospitals’ Charity as part of its Rays a Smile fundraising appeal.
The appeal, launched earlier this year, aims to raise £250,000 to make radiology services at the hospital more child-friendly.
Almost all patients treated in hospital, either as an inpatient or outpatient, are referred for imaging, with around 55 children imaged every day in Bradford’s hospitals.
It is believed that a brighter, more child-friendly environment will benefit all patients, including some adults who find imaging stressful. It will also speed up scan times because people will be less anxious and avoid sedation, thus providing better quality images.
Having an MRI scan is claustrophobic, noisy and takes at least 30 minutes, but the Relax and View video relaxation system will help relieve the stress and boredom that many patients – young and old – can experience. It means children who are most scared of scans may not need sedation or a general anaesthetic, with the increased risks they bring.
Better imaging
It also benefits radiology staff as relaxed patients mean better imaging, better diagnosis and a nicer experience for everyone. Anxiety can cause delays in scanning, which can potentially delay treatment.
Consultant Paediatric Radiologist, Dr LeeAnne Elliott said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have this wonderful new piece of kit, kindly donated by the Charity, which will really help patients relax more during scans as they’ve now got something to watch while they listen through headphones.
“It plays DVDs, which are easily available, and we’ve already got a great stock of Disney and other children’s movies which staff have given us. Children will be able to choose what they want to watch – and we think some David Attenborough DVDs will go down well with older patients!
“It’s a very specialist system designed specifically to be used in the MRI environment, which means everything has to be non-ferrous (not made of iron and not magnetic), and it has a series of mirrors so patients can see the screen no matter how they are positioned.”
Head of Fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, Hayley Collis, added: “Most people will have experience of having an x-ray, which is daunting enough, but in fact most adults, let alone children, are very anxious when they have an MRI or CT scan.
“We want to provide the best for Bradford’s children when they come into hospital, so we’re thrilled to donate the Relax and View system through Rays a Smile, which we know we will be very well used.”
In addition to this latest equipment, the Rays a Smile appeal has already:
- created designated children’s waiting areas at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital, which are bright, warm and welcoming and kitted out with distraction toys
- created a ‘snuggle room’ for parents to soothe babies to sleep before scans, to avoid the need for general anaesthetic.
And it still plans to:
- revamp some rooms used for x-ray, ultrasound, CT scans and MRI scans with colourful décor to distract children
- purchase sound systems to play music for children while they are scanned.
To find out more about Bradford Hospitals’ Charity and how you can support your local hospitals, visit www.bradfordhospitalscharity.org. Alternatively, contact Hayley Collis or Elaine Drake on 01274 274809 or email charity@bthft.nhs.uk
ENDS
For further media information, contact the Trust’s communications team at: communications@bthft.nhs.uk or 01274 383901.
Note to Editors:
- Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is one of more than 250 NHS charities based around the UK. It supports the strategic direction of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust by funding projects which go over and above what he NHS provides.
- Did you know that, together, all NHS charities give £1million every single day to the NHS!
- In 2017, a new £28million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, which was part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals. It provides world-class facilities for the elderly, children and a brand new intensive care unit. Bradford Hospitals’ Charity provided £260,000 to enable the Trust to create family friendly environments, state-of-the-art equipment and innovative distraction toys and games for young people.
- With the support of Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, BTHFT was also able to provide more cots, including intensive care and high dependency cots, new family accommodation, a revamped counselling suite and a dedicated room for mothers to express milk for pre-term babies when the new neonatal unit opened in 2015.
Twitter: @BTHFTCharity Facebook: bradfordhospitalscharity Instagram:bradfordhospitalscharity LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bradfordhospitalscharity
Note to Editors:
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for providing hospital services for the people of Bradford and communities across Yorkshire. We serve a core population of around 500,000 and provide specialist services for 1.1 million people.
Our 5,500 staff work over several sites, including Bradford Royal Infirmary, which provides the majority of inpatient services, and St Luke’s Hospital, which predominantly provides outpatient and rehabilitation services. We also manage local community hospitals at Westwood Park, Westbourne Green, and Eccleshill.
In early 2017, a new £28 million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals over a five-year period. It provides world-class facilities for elderly care, children’s services, a state-of-the-art intensive care unit with increased single-room provision and a retail concourse.
The new wing is a continuation of our work to improve patient experience after our new £2 million neonatal unit officially opened in January 2015. Our maternity services were recently shortlisted for the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) Midwifery Service of the Year Award, recognising excellence and innovation in the provision of maternity care.
In 2017, we also completed a £2m refurbishment of our Emergency Department (ED) as part of an ambitious vision to create a more efficient acute medicine service for the people of Bradford. It has been designed to provide a slicker and more efficient service, with faster senior clinical involvement at an early stage in the patient pathway.
As a teaching hospital, we are at the forefront of education and development in healthcare, and have an excellent reputation for research performance. We are one of the leading centres in conducting applied research in the country, particularly in quality and safety, elderly care and rehabilitation.
The Trust is home to the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) where researchers have led the development, validation and implementation of the award-winning Bradford Electronic Frailty Index (eFI) which helps calculate an elderly person’s risk of disability, impairment, falls and complications of chronic diseases, as well as their diminishing independence and capability. This is now being used by 98 per cent of all GPs across the country.
Our award-winning Ophthalmology department is home to numerous worldwide clinical trials taking the lead in eye care research and we are one of only three sites in the United Kingdom to be enlisted in the Perioperative Enhanced Recovery Hip Fracture Care of Patients with Dementia (PERFECTED) study, which will investigate how the NHS can introduce better standards of care to improve outcomes for people with dementia.
The Trust has its own Bradford Hospitals Charity: www.bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk/charity
Follow us on Twitter: @BTHFT