After two years of having a play therapy ‘kitten scanner’ to help children get comfortable with MRI, Grantham and District Hospital is celebrating its overwhelming success.
The device aims to help children understand MRI scanning, what it feels like to have a scan, and how the results can help their recovery, allowing the team to undertake paediatric scans without the need for a general anaesthetic.
Based at Grantham and District Hospital in the Kingfisher Unit, the scanner cost around £15,000 – but it has saved more than £150,000 by avoiding sedation, as well as the time and costs associated with a short hospital stay on a ward to recover from a general anaesthetic.
'Daunting for most people'
Over the past two years, the staff at United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have come to appreciate the power of the interactive, miniature MRI scanner – made by Philips Healthcare – for alleviating the fear that can sometimes accompany MRI scans.
Sandy Crook, play leader at Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals NHS Group, said: “We know that coming to hospital for an appointment is daunting for most people, but especially for children and we also know an MRI scanner is a noisy machine, which can be difficult for patients to tolerate.”
Before each appointment, the team sends info to the parents and an app to introduce and explain the scanner’s function, what it feels like to get an MRI, and how the results can help.
Once in the hospital, paediatric patients are shown the kitten scanner, allowed to play with it, and taken through a video explanation of what will happen during their scan.
'Overwhelmingly successful'
(Image: Sandy Crook, via United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust)
“When they are comfortable, I take them over to the MRI unit for their scan,” Sandy added. “After their scan they get a certificate, which is always very well received!”
Frankie, a seven-year-old boy from Grantham, was the 250th child to go through this experience recently at Grantham and District Hospital.
Sandy continued: “As the use of it has been overwhelmingly successful and due to our large geographical county, we are now looking to get further kitten scanners for other locations. We are grateful to United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity for purchasing the original kitten scanner and thus allowing us to set up this wonderful service for some of our youngest patients.
“I know from speaking to many parents that they are thankful for the kitten scanner and that their little ones don’t need to go through sedation.”
Visit Lincolnshire NHS charity and United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity to find out more about efforts to improve services throughout the Trust.
(Image: Frankie, using the kitten scanner, via United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust)