Latest news with #NHS trust
BBC News
14 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
New brain scanner trialled in Kent could speed up dementia diagnosis
A pioneering brain scanner, one of the first to be owned by an NHS trust in England, is being trialled in Kent to improve dementia diagnosis and mental health research. The low-field MRI scanner is smaller, cheaper, and more portable than traditional machines, and could be used in community clinics for faster, more accessible by the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), with academic partners, the research aims to combine the scanners with AI to match the image quality of standard MRI scans. Prof Sukhi Shergill, from KMPT, believes the scanner could be "revolutionary" and lead to quicker dementia diagnosis. He said it was "currently one of the biggest challenges we face in healthcare".Experts say low-field scanners have the potential to replace standard brain scanning techniques and transform early diagnosis and treatment strategies for mental health MRI scanners often require specific power and cooling infrastructure and are sensitive to vibrations and some magnetic fields, which means they are usually housed in specially designed hospital new scanners produce lower quality images but combined with AI software they are capable of matching the image quality of larger, more expensive machines. In his role as director of research for KMPT and co-director of research at KMMSS, Prof Shergill said having smaller scanners in local communities meant they could access "almost everybody in Kent"."It's a revolutionary kind of idea to go to put these low field scanners much more locally to people," he said. It is hoped the trials would also be a be a "significant step forward in speeding up dementia assessments".Dr Joanne Rodda, a senior lecturer at Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) and consultant psychiatrist at KMPT, is researching the scanners' ability to help with early diagnosis of said: "Low-field scanners could potentially be offered more widely, like in community memory clinics, providing more timely results, improving patient experience." The collaboration between KMPT, KMMS, and Canterbury Christ Church University aims to support innovative research to enhance the health and well-being of communities in Kent and Medway.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Health
- The Guardian
‘Difficult' state of NHS maternity care due to Tory inaction, inquiry head says
One of the UK's most senior midwives has said inaction by the previous government over maternity care failures has led to the 'difficult' situation in wards across England and a rise in reports of birth trauma. Donna Ockenden, who is leading the biggest inquiry in NHS history into maternity failures in Nottingham, said the Conservatives had been given a 'blueprint' for how to improve maternity services but that it had not been implemented. 'I think the current government has inherited a really, really difficult picture around perinatal care, birth care and increasing reports of birth trauma. If only the previous government had done what it said it would do, that inheritance would have been very different,' she said. Ockenden is leading a review into maternity services at the Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust, the largest inquiry into a single service in the history of the NHS, with 2,406 affected families taking part. The findings will be published in June 2026. She expressed frustration over the slow pace of change after her report on the Shrewsbury and Telford maternity scandal, which found that 300 babies died or were left brain-damaged as a result of inadequate care. 'We published [that report] in March 2022 and there were 22 immediately essential actions, as well as hundreds of actions for the NHS trust,' she said. 'But with the chaos that followed in the year before the general election, things got lost and we are not as far ahead with those immediately essential actions as we should be.' Guardian analysis has found that the NHS is facing a £27bn bill for maternity failings in England since 2019, significantly more than the health service's approximately £18bn budget for newborns in that time. Ockenden said the figures left her 'deeply concerned', and she stressed that the cost of avoidable maternity harm was felt across 'mental health, other health services, the economy, the wider community, relationships, whole families and careers'. 'This is not the way it should be. I would absolutely not say that families do not deserve compensation when they have a poor outcome, but rather that if the money was invested upfront into making the service safer, then we could make significant strides towards reducing this very significant harm,' she said. She said maternity wards were also dealing with problems caused by high levels of poverty across the country. 'There are a number of families, mothers and children living in destitution – which sounds very Victorian, but I do see examples of that. I hear about it from across the country and I see examples of real deprivation in Nottinghamshire,' she said. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'Maternity services are not an island. What comes in the front door of a maternity unit is that which is out there on our streets, whether that's women living in refugee status, in homeless hostels, women who come to antenatal clinics hungry because it's a choice between giving their children something for breakfast or [the women] eating.' Last month, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, criticised what he described as 'the normalisation of deaths of women and babies' and said: 'We have women who are classed as having a normal birth still leaving traumatised and scarred.' He announced a national investigation into NHS maternity services in England, along with a national maternity and neonatal taskforce comprising a panel of experts and bereaved families. Ockenden said the news was 'encouraging' and that 'hearing, amplifying and acting upon family voices must be the golden thread that runs through it all'. 'It is my hope that the changes outlined in these plans improve perinatal services today and in the future, and drastically reduce the risk of harm. Women and families deserve safe maternity care, always,' she said.
