Princess Royal’s revamped imaging department has care at its core

The redeveloped imaging department at Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath, was officially opened on March 17. Chief medical officer and deputy chief executive for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Dr George Findlay was there to cut the ribbon and celebrate the achievement with colleagues from the imaging department and capital development. Representatives of the contractors who worked on the project, including Canon Medical Systems, MIS Healthcare and Pilbeams, also attended the event. The reworked department includes a new Canon CT system, a digital Samsung x-ray room, improved waiting and changing facilities for outpatients, a dedicated waiting area for inpatients on trolleys or beds and two new cannulation rooms.

Services were maintained throughout the works, which started last summer, with the development split into seven stages to help keep the impact on patient care as low as possible. In opening the department, Dr Findlay paid tribute to the way that everyone involved in the project had worked together in the most difficult circumstances. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the improvements to the imaging department were delivered on time and to budget, an achievement that Dr Findlay described as: “Patient centred planning and care at its best.”

Lead picture: Cutting the ribbon is lead superintendent radiographer Jemma Deane with chief medical officer and deputy chief executive for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Dr George Findlay, colleagues from the imaging department and contractors.

See the full report on page 4 of the April 2021 issue of RAD Magazine.