Canon Medical says that with 2.5 million more people in England projected to be living with major illness by 2040, increasing diagnostic imaging capacity has ‘never been more important’ for the UK’s 215 NHS Trusts, adding that demand for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), particularly, is ‘at an all-time high’. To address the demand and help tackle the NHS waiting list, Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust has collaborated with partner of 20 years, Canon Medical Systems UK, to expand its in-house MRI capacity ‘in a unique way’. Utilising last-minute funding awarded to Greater Manchester from the NHS, the hospital leveraged this long-term relationship with Canon Medical to design and deliver a bespoke, purpose-built MRI suite as a permanent solution for the hospital.
The integrated modular unit, comprising two modules to accommodate waiting and changing rooms, houses Canon Medical’s Vantage Orian MRI system, a second MRI scanner for the hospital. Replacing a separate external mobile unit in the car park, the new unit allows clinical staff to serve both inpatients, and emergency and outpatients, within the main hospital – something previously not possible.
Jennifer Riley, Cross-sectional (CT/MRI) Service Lead radiographer at Tameside Hospital, said: “This wasn’t just a case of procuring MRI equipment to meet increasing demand. Careful consideration needed to be given to where the new system would be housed to meet the needs of both our inpatients and outpatients. Working with Canon Medical, we needed a permanent solution to increase MRI capacity within a very tight timeframe to meet the requirements of our funding. Ensuring accessibility and a positive patient experience, both during and post-installation, was crucial. The new suite needed to feel like part of the existing site without changing the building fabric.”
Matthew Kilheeney, Radiology manager at Tameside Hospital, explained: “We’ve always had a strong partnership and positive experience working with Canon Medical. The team is reliable, responsive, and quick to find a solution to any challenge, and its training, aftersales support, and service, are second-to-none. At the onset of the pandemic, when demand peaked, and with COVID restrictions in place, the Canon Medical provided us with a mobile CT scanner to increase capacity and support social distancing. So, when keen to building a whole new suite, we knew we could turn to the company to help execute the whole project. Canon Medical helped us roll out an end-to-end solution in under nine months – from sourcing equipment to designing and building the unit to house the MRI system.”
Over many years, Canon Medical has provided the Trust with numerous diagnostic imaging solutions – including two ultrasound systems, an Ultimax-i Multi-Purpose Fluoroscopy room, and three Aquilion Prime SP CT scanners, which feature Vitrea Advanced Visualization, a modular viewing platform that is said to ‘unify workflows, enabling greater diagnostic productivity’.
Matthew Kilheeney added, “Having a second permanent MRI scanner in house has given us a 100% guaranteed capacity increase internally. Previously, if our internal MRI scanner had failed, scanning inpatients would have been impossible, so this has removed that single point of failure. As a hospital we need to meet a target of 98% uptime across our diagnostic equipment, and thanks to Canon Medical’s support, we continue to hit, and even exceed, that target.”