Friday 18 December 2020
An enquiry from Pula Ltd, the family office for the Lansdown family, as to what the PEH most needed during the first wave of the Covid pandemic led to a £107k-donation to purchase its third mobile x-ray machine.
This mobile X-ray equipment has played a vital role in hospitals worldwide this year due to it being able to move around quarantined wards performing chest x-rays where Covid-19 is suspected. This allows imaging patients in situ, rather than moving them and potentially contaminating other parts of a hospital when attending radiology departments. It was ordered for the PEH in June, but delivery was delayed until October due to prior worldwide orders for the COVID response.
But now it is here, the machine is being used daily around the hospital, including performing x-rays on patients in Intensive Care, Neonatal Intensive Care and the Emergency Department.
Radiology Services Manager Alistair Richards said it was an incredibly generous donation which was proving highly beneficial.
'It was ordered with our pandemic preparedness forefront of mind but also knowing it would be very useful for business as usual hospital workload as well.
'The ability to take an x-ray machine to patients wherever they are based in the hospital rather than them having to come to the radiology unit is obviously very advantageous in a number of situations. Whether it's down to a patient's mobility issues due to severe illness or reduced consciousness, it's far less disruptive not having to move them and aids faster diagnosis.'
The specific model purchased through the Pula Ltd donation is the Mobillet Elara Max, which is based on the latest digital x-ray technology. Due to the design somewhat resembling the anatomy of a giraffe it has been decorated to look like one. And it has been named Lara, derived from the model name.
Today, Pula's owners Steve Lansdown CBE and wife Maggie attended the radiology department to see Lara in action. Mr Richards and lead radiographer Linda Gardner gave them a demonstration of how it works and explained its uses.
Mr Lansdown said:
'We wanted to donate something that could make a real difference in what has clearly been a very challenging year for our hospital, but also something that would provide a long-lasting benefit to the community. It is amazing to see the machine first hand and to hear what a positive impact it is making. The fact that it resembles a giraffe is very fitting given our interests in, and love of, Africa'
Mr Richards advised that if there was the need to re-open a COVID ward, Lara would be based permanently on that ward due to its streamlined design and antimicrobial coating.
However, once the vaccine programme has been rolled out and as and when the Covid-19 risk has lessened, he said the intention is to relocate one of the other existing mobile x-ray units to Alderney.
Mr Richards concluded:
'So the very generous donation of this machine will very much benefit the whole Bailiwick community.'
