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Respiratory service expands and reduces the need for multiple visits

Members of the Thoracosopy Team L-R Dr Muhammad Naeem, Dr Sidra Kiran, Dr Advitya Singh, Pleural Nurse Samantha Rawson, Dr Rahul Patel, Dr Raja Reddy and Dr George Tsaknis

Kettering General Hospital is expanding a service for respiratory patients which has reduced the need for multiple visits to hospital.

The expansion has involved the hospital’s Thoracoscopy Service investing £24,000 it won in an internal Dragon’s Den-style competition held for staff in October 2018.

The money has been used to buy a new Thorocoscopy Scope and associated computer screen – which are used to give clinicians a high definition picture of the inside of the pleural cavity, the fluid sack surrounding the lungs.

It will enable the service to increase the number of thoracoscopy procedures, and enable more patients with complex pleural conditions to be treated as day cases.

To win the money the Thoracoscopy team had to make a successful bid to a panel of five Dragons – made up of local entrepreneurs and a hospital representative – to receive money from the hospital’s capital fund.

Team member, and respiratory consultant, Dr Raja Reddy, said: “We first launched our Thoracoscopy Service in February 2013 for patients who have fluid accumulation in their chest which makes it hard for them to breathe

“It involves inserting a special tube and camera into the chest cavity, sucking out all of the fluid, examining the chest cavity, and then sealing the cavity to prevent further accumulation of fluid.

“Fluid in the chest cavity can be associated with various different types of cancers - particularly lung cancer – and the procedure also enables biopsies to be taken to assist in diagnosis.

“By having this service at KGH we have prevented the need for many patients to travel to specialist hospitals, such as Glenfield in Leicester, to have the procedure.

“The procedure also enables us to do three things at one time – remove the fluid, take biopsies and seal the chest cavity.

“This would previously have involved three separate, and longer, visits to hospital.

“The service is now very well established and we were delighted to have succeeded in our Dragon’s Den bid to expand it further.”

Pleural Nurse, Samantha Rawson said: “From the patients’ point of view the procedure enables us to remove all the fluid from their cavity in one go which can give them a feeling of instant relief.

“Some patients may have more than five litres of fluid pressing on their lungs which makes them feel very breathless and miserable.

“Our service helps to give the patient a quicker diagnosis, reduce their length of stay in hospital and give them a better experience of our care.”

On February 15, 2019 the hospital’s Thoracoscopy Team performed its 300th procedure.

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