Dear colleague,

This week we welcomed Andrew Rosindell, MP for Romford, and Mark Francois, MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, to Queen’s Hospital to hear about our round the clock care for stroke patients.

They spoke to our stroke and interventional neuroradiology teams about the growth in cases and how developing community services will be crucial in making sure all patients receive the lifesaving treatment they need.

They also heard how we’re one of a handful of centres to carry out a specialist emergency treatment - mechanical thrombectomy (MT) - to remove blood clots. It’s a minimally invasive, image-guided procedure needed by around 10% of stroke patients and can significantly improve their prognosis, such as saving Loren Dixon from locked-in syndrome.

We’ve currently extended our MT service to 24-hours a day, seven days a week for patients across Kent, the East of England and north east London, while the bi-plane machine (which takes the detailed x-rays needed) is replaced at the Royal London Hospital.

We also welcomed Councillor Dominic Twomey, new leader of Barking and Dagenham Council to our Barking Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC). He visited with Fiona Taylor, Council Chief Executive and Councillor Maureen Worby who was key in supporting the delivery of the CDC.

They heard about innovations for cancer patients such as colon capsules, which are swallowed and photos taken as it passes through the body; and how we’re working with medical photography for suspected mouth cancer. The patient’s image is reviewed by a consultant and within a day they know whether they can go about their lives worry-free, or we can get them onto the right treatment pathway as quickly as possible.

They also saw how the centre was designed to make the most of the space and commented on how light, airy and calming the environment is for patients and staff. 

Together with our CDC at St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub, due to open next month, the two centres will provide 88,000 additional tests and scans a year for residents.

Our diagnostics capability continues to go from strength to strength with our new state-of-the-art combined SPECT scanner (single-proton emission computed tomography) at Queen’s. Opened by Alex Sharp, Chairman of Hornchurch Football Club, it combines nuclear medicine scans with CT. It is the only one of its kind in London and one of very few across the country.

This month sees some changes to our Trust Board. We said goodbye to our Chief Medical Officer, Mamta Shetty Vaidya. Mamta has done a fantastic job in the time she was with us, and I’d like to thank her and wish her all the best in her new role at King’s College Hospital. Andrew Deaner, who was our Medical Director at King George Hospital, will take on the role while we look for a permanent appointment. A cardiologist, he brings decades of experience at our Trust and across north east London (NEL). 

Lastly this week one of our consultants, Professor Gideon Mlawa, met King Charles at a reception at St James’ Palace to honour the role international healthcare workers have in the NHS and globally.

A founding member of the Tanzania UK Healthcare Diaspora Association, Gideon has been a leading figure in collaborative partnership schemes to support healthcare institutions in low and middle income countries in Africa for the past eight years.

It’s a fantastic initiative to help give back to countries where many staff across the NHS come from, and we’re looking forward to hosting a Diaspora event at our Trust next month.

Best wishes,

Matthew Trainer
Chief Executive