12:53pm Thursday 11th March 2010
PATIENTS living in the Yorkshire Dales will no longer have to travel to Northallerton for high-tech scans.
A new ultrasound service has been set up to meet the needs of Richmondshire residents through an innovative partnership between a GP surgery and the Friarage hospital.
It means a weekly service for routine, non-urgent ultrasound scans is being provided for patients at Leyburn Medical Practice by staff from the hospital’s radiology department.
The service is being provided thanks to a legacy from a grateful patients and financial help from the Friends of the Friarage Hospital.
It has allowed the practice to spend £30,000 on a Philips ultrasound scanner, together with a Doppler colour flow facility and writable DVD which allows images to be stored and archived using facilities at the hospital.
The state-of-the-art scanner will help to diagnose many illnesses, including those of the gallbladder, kidneys, liver, testes and pancreas. It will also be used for pelvic investigations including gynaecological and bladder scans.
The managing partner of the practice, Stephen Brown, said: "By integrating the service between Leyburn and the Friarage Hospital we benefit from consultants and specialist expertise at the hospital and the shared technology means scans are reported promptly, allowing patients and their GPs access to the results quicker." He added: "The service will also allow local doctors to investigate diseases themselves, which may avoid the need for patients to be referred on to the hospital for investigation."
The leader of the ultrasound team at the Friarage, Louise Graydon, said: "We are delighted to have been invited by Leyburn Medical Practice to help provide this service and we hope patients living in the more remote areas of Richmondshire will be pleased with it."
She added: "We are very aware of the long and sometimes difficult journeys our patients make from Leyburn and the upper dales in order to keep their appointments at the Friarage.
"This new service will cut their travelling time and also free up more appointments slots in the radiology department for more urgent and complex examinations helping us to cut waiting times and continue to develop the service we provide for patients."
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/trade_directory/