Two local charities have joined forces to add a £30,000 ’Kitten Scanner’ to the already impressive list of equipment they are providing for the new Cross Sectional Imaging Suite at Noble’s Hospital.

The Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust has already committed £1.1 million to buy a brand new 3.0 Tesla MRI scanner, while Manx Breast Cancer Support Group/Mannin Cancers are currently running an appeal which is well on the way to providing funds to purchase two new CT scanners.

Now the charities have announced that they are making a joint purchase of another piece of equipment which addresses the problem of 3D imaging examinations for children.

Even for an adult a scanner can be a scary-looking piece of equipment and induce feelings of claustrophobia.

For a child it can be even worse, as consultant radiologist, Dr Vanina Finocchi, explained.

She said: ’We have a lot of problems with kids approaching a diagnostic exam.

’We are all adults and we understand what we’re going to have to do and why we’re going to have to do it.

’With children, not only have they never heard of it, they’ve got no idea really why they’re doing it. Some exams are really uncomfortable for them in the sense that, in the MRI especially, they have to stay still for about 20 minutes in this little hole.

’The mother can go into the room but of course she cannot go into the tube with them so I can imagine this is very, very scary for any child.’

While some children will submit to the procedure, some of them, especially the younger ones, are less easy to persuade.

’You can spend a long time coaxing children.

’Sometimes a 20-minute scan can take an hour and a half before you can even get them on [the scanner],’ said Kathleen McDowall, cross sectional lead radiology.

In the worst cases a child may have to go under general anaesthetic, which usually means having to be sent across to Alder Hey where they have the facilities to do this.

Hospital care generally is seeing a shift away from simply treating patients’ symptoms to giving them a much better overall experience and this is where the Kitten Scanner will have a role to play.

Basically a ’child-size’ version of an MRI scanner, it allows children to have a go at ’scanning’ a special puppet, thus preparing them in a fun way to undergo an examination themselves.

Alder Hey now has a Kitten Scanner and has reported that it has already halved the number of children that have to have a general anaesthetic before they can be scanned.

The Isle of Man’s new Kitten Scanner will sit in the reception area of the new Cross Sectional Imaging Suite at Noble’s.

The hope is that it will not only make an examination a less stressful experience for children but that it will lead to less children having to go across to be scanned.

The Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust chairman, Terry Groves, said: ’The purchase of this state of the art MRI Scanner and the whole surrounding ambience within the Imaging Suite, lighting, décor etc, fits precisely into how we see that we can best help Noble’s Hospital - by buying equipment for them that is outside of their normal equipment replacement and funding.

’Adding to this the Kitten Scanner will add real value to the work of the radiology team here - in our view value beyond price.’

Julie Stokes, chairman of Manx Breast Cancer Support Group, said: ’We’re really thrilled to be working with the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust to make the Cross Sectional Imaging Suite the best it possibly can be.

’The Kitten Scanner is very much a part of this because it’s all about the patient experience: if it helps the child feel better and if it helps the mum and dad feel better then it’s worth it.’

Manx Breast Cancer Support Group and Mannin Cancers have already reached £1.1 m of their target of £1.5m to pay for the two new CT scanners and their fundraising is continuing with a number of events in the pipeline and money coming in from people all over the island who are supporting the appeal with events of their own.

The building work required for the new Cross Sectional Imaging Suite, which is situated within the Radiology Department, is being paid for by government at a cost of £750,000 and has already started.

It is hoped the new suite will be completed in a few months’ time.