Leading Alder Hey clinician hails Every Second Counts Appeal as crucial
Alder Hey Children’s Charity has launched its Every Second Counts Appeal, a vital fundraising campaign to help bring a state-of-the-art CT scanner to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. This cutting-edge equipment will enhance the hospital’s ability to deliver world-class care, ensuring Alder Hey remains at the forefront of paediatric innovation and healthcare.
To highlight the importance of this appeal, we’re speaking to experts across the hospital who use CT scanning every day to diagnose, monitor, and treat some of the most complex medical conditions in children and young people.
One of those experts is Ram Dhannapueni, a Consultant Cardiac Surgeon who has been part of the Alder Hey team for 15 years. With extensive experience in treating children with critical heart conditions, Ram understands the life-saving role advanced imaging plays in his work. He sat down with us to share his expertise and discuss the difference that this piece of equipment will have at Alder Hey.
Why are CT scans important?
CT scans are very important for us to perform cardiac operations is important when taking investigations into finding out exactly what the abnormality is that we need to repair or treat. These could be abnormalities such as holes in the heart or abnormal connections of the blood vessels. CT scans are often the first port of call when identifying these abnormalities, and I would guess that we (the cardiac team) are probably one of the biggest users of CT scans across Alder Hey.
What difference will the new scanner make for your department?
With this new spectral CT scanner we have the opportunity to have the first scanner of this kind in a paediatric hospital anywhere in the world and it will make a huge difference to our patients and practice in that the scanning will be done faster than is currently possible, which allows for more scans to be done and more children to be treated. It also means that some children will not need to have unnecessary general anaethestic, which is especially important for cardiac patients.
Which feature of the new scanner is the most important to you?
It is a difficult question, because they are all so, so important, but I believe they work together to make a massive difference for young people. By providing faster scans, it means that we can get results quicker, allowing us to diagnose the best treatment sooner. It also means that many children won’t have to have the unnecessary anaesthetic, which means they can go home quicker. Overall, the new scanner is enhancing the service we already provide and ensuring that we continue to go above and beyond for patients in our care.
What impact will the new scanner have at Alder Hey?
Alder Hey is one of the biggest children’s hospitals in Europe and one of the leading children’s hospitals in the world, ranked among the top ten. This means it is really important for us to innovate and upgrade what we currently provide to ensure we continue to provide world-class care to the patient we see from across the North West and the rest of the UK. It makes a huge difference to the hospital.
How you can help
Alder Hey Children’s Charity is raising £952,000 to make this vision a reality – and every gift takes us one step closer.
Your support will help children across the North West and beyond get faster, safer diagnoses and the best possible start to treatment.
Click here to support our Every Second Counts Appeal today.
Because when it comes to saving lives – every second counts
