Althea – reportedly the world’s largest managed service and maintenance provider – has delivered a major radiology equipment investment at Peterborough City Hospital, including three DR X-ray rooms with Samsung equipment.
The rooms incorporate GC85 and GC70 digital radiology equipment selected for its reliability. Samsung describes the GC85 as ‘a fully automated, digital suite designed to reduce physical stress on users, increase patient output, and deliver superb quality images’.
The second major installation managed by Althea at the hospital was a Canon Radiotherapy CT, used to plan cancer patients’ treatment, in a project which had to run to time to avoid clinical delays. The Radiotherapy Department was able to work in conjunction with the diagnostic team in Radiology to share the diagnostic CT throughout the installation.
A Philips Allura Clarity FD20 digital X-ray system was also installed in the hospital’s Interventional Suite, as part of a reconfiguration of the room layout for better workflow. A lighting upgraded to LED within the main theatre, meanwhile, provides better light for all users.
David Rolfe, Althea's UK & Ireland CEO, explained: “Althea offers North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust a high quality, cost-effective, managed service. We have a team of 14 at the largest site, Peterborough City Hospital, which includes medical engineers, equipment library staff, administrators, operational co-coordinators, and operational management personnel. We provide servicing and maintenance for all medical equipment in diagnostic imaging, biomedical engineering and pathology –from MRI scanners and specialist pathology devices to operating theatre, endoscopy, and general ward equipment. The contract has over 70 KPIs to meet each month.”
Another Althea-managed project saw X-ray equipment in the resuscitation area removed and replaced with a mobile digital solution. The Trust initially had a ceiling-hung X-ray machine in all four resuscitation bays, with the equipment only useable in this area. Althea suggested replacing this with a digital solution to make the service more mobile and adaptable. Today, clinicians no longer need to use a resus bay when using the equipment; the mobile technology can move to other parts of the hospital as required.
With fewer patients being seen in the hospital’s Fluoroscopy suite – many being sent for a CT scan instead – Althea worked with the clinical team to upgrade the room to a dedicated CT colonoscopy suite. The Canon CT Prime 80 scanner installed gives clinicians more data on the bowel, with a high sensitivity for picking up early stages of bowel cancer.
Althea says that ‘being entirely vendor-independent’ – and thus not ‘tied’ to one particular manufacturer – ensures that it can offer hospitals ‘the most clinically effective and cost-efficient service for their clinical needs’. Hospitals can choose equipment and clinical consumables from any manufacturer, as well as ‘the most appropriate blend’ of maintenance providers, including Althea’s ISO13485-certificated, in-house engineering workforce.
2020, in fact, marks 10 years since most of the imaging equipment was installed at Peterborough City Hospital, and with the majority purchased on a 10-year lifecycle, it is now being replaced by Althea with new equipment. This year 37 items, with a value of over £10 m, are planned to be replaced.
