GOSH marks 25th anniversary of IR department
In June, the interventional radiology (IR) department at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) in London celebrated its 25-year anniversary. Although some procedures were being delivered by staff from GOSH and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery next door, it was not until July 1999 that a formal IR service was established. The trust recognised that this was a new speciality worthy of investment and persuaded Dr Derek Roebuck to come from Hong Kong to start an IR programme.
In those 25 years, the department has gone from a team of four delivering 300 cases a year (half of which were performed out of hours as emergencies due to lack of anaesthetic list availability) in a small single-plane room, to 12 operators and a staff of 40 performing more than 3,000 procedures a year in three biplane suites with 22 lists a week.
The team celebrated with an afternoon of presentations and talks by former and current team members and colleagues from other clinical teams in the hospital, reflecting on what had been achieved over the years. Previous staff came back to celebrate while other staff, including several of the original team, recorded videos and messages from Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and America. Consultants from other specialities in the trust came to thank staff for the impact IR has had on their services during the last quarter of a century.
President of the British Society of Interventional Imaging Professor Robert Morgan was on hand to explain how the department has influenced the growth of paediatric IR across the UK in recent times.
In addition, videos and messages from previous patients and their families brought home to the team and the wider hospital what lies at the heart of the department’s work and the difference it makes.
Lead picture: Current and former staff enjoyed a rooftop celebration.
Published on page 8 of the August 2024 issue of RAD Magazine.
