Bradford Royal Infirmary has increased its diagnostic imaging capacity and reorganised its suspected COVID-19 and normal imaging radiology workflow with the introduction of a Relocatable CT Scanner. Rapidly deployed by Canon Medical Systems UK, the new temporary facility is located in a hospital car park between A&E and Radiology.
“The Relocatable CT Scanner allows us to keep ‘Green’ patients (without suspected COVID-19) separate from Red (suspected COVID-19 patients), mirroring the cohorting we have on the wards,” states Mark Kon, Consultant Thoracic Radiologist & Clinical Director of Radiology at Bradford Royal Infirmary. “Although our teams of radiographers were divided into red and green at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, they shared a common CT control room. Having an entirely separate scan facility means there is much less risk of cross infection.”
He continues, “An additional and rapidly installed CT scanner will also bring clear benefits of increasing our radiology capacity. We will be carrying out pre-operation chest scans to ensure our patients are COVID-19 free before undergoing major surgery, and the scanner may also be useful in the recovery phase when we start to catch-up with the patient imaging workload that has been put on hold during April & May.”
The Relocatable CT Scanner features an Aquilion PRIME CT and includes a control room and small changing/storage area. It is designed with the correct clinical flooring, hospital grade heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) requirements plus datalink connectivity.
Ian Watson, Director, Commercial Solutions at Canon Medical Systems UK states, “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK has meant that we have needed to be rapid and flexible in our response. We are proud to support Bradford Royal Infirmary, a customer for many years, with its need to temporarily ramp up its CT imaging capacity and reorganise the way it sees patients. Our Relocatable CT Scanners are designed for just that - to be rapidly deployed on the back of a lorry, and to work outside of hospital buildings when capacity pressures demand. We have already commenced rapid production of more units to meet future hospital enquiries.”
Bradford Royal Infirmary, part of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, is a principal city hospital providing inpatient services to a patient population of around 500,000 across Yorkshire.