Blessing of digital radiography room marks milestone
Staff and patient experience will be improved in Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital’s Radiology department now that all its the digital radiography rooms have been upgraded.
Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s Radiology team gathered today (Friday 15 July) for a blessing of the last of three digital radiography rooms to be upgraded this year, complete with new digital radiography systems, which will be used from Monday (18 July).
Angela Fuller, Radiology Manager at Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand, Te Matau a Māui Hawke’s Bay (Te Whatu Ora Hawke’s Bay), says the rooms have new paint, flooring and optimised layouts, which will improve flow and better accommodate patient stretchers and beds.
“Our three digital radiography rooms have also been refitted with Philips Digital Diagnost C90 digital radiography systems, which give high quality diagnostic images,” Mrs Fuller says.
“These new systems provide a live camera image giving Medical Imaging Technologists a clear view of the patient, so they can see patient movement and adjust before an image is taken – saving repeated X-rays due to a patient moving,” she says.
The completion of the final digital radiography room is great news for the Radiology department, which is open 24 hours a day and 365 days of the year, covering the Emergency Department and supporting the wider hospital.
“Our Medical Imaging Technologists see a wide range of patients for both diagnosis and treatment, and are excited to work in these refitted rooms which are kitted out with state-of-the-art equipment,” Mrs Fuller says.
The completion of this work means all of Te Whatu Ora Hawke’s Bay’s digital radiography rooms in Hastings, Central Hawke’s Bay and Wairoa have been upgraded and refitted with new equipment in the past five years.
These upgrades are part of Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s Radiology Refurbishment Project. Also completed in the past 18 months are the replacements of the angiography and fluoroscopy units, and the upgrade of an existing Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine.
CAPTION: A medical imaging technologist looks at the new Philips Digital Diagnost C90 in the refurbished digital radiography room at Hawke's Bay Hospital.