New £3m radiology suite opens at Jersey hospital

A new radiology suite is treating patients using only catheters and wires, which will reduce pain and recovery times, a doctor has said.

The Government of Jersey said the £3m Interventional Radiology (IR) suite at Jersey General Hospital, funded by charitable funds, was being used to treat conditions such as cancers and blood clots using pinhole incisions.

The suite has begun seeing patients following a 16-month project which included the installation of advanced imaging equipment and refurbishment works, bosses said.

Dr Nolan Walker said the new technology would provide "all sorts of procedures" on island and "improve the procedures that we're already performing".

Procedures available in the new unit include the treatment of vascular conditions, such as blood clots and bleeding vessels; keyhole treatment for fibroids and treatment for enlarged prostates.

The IR suite would also be able to drain infections and abscesses and allow for the insertion of long‑term intravenous lines for patients requiring ongoing treatments such as chemotherapy, staff said.

Consultant radiologist Walker added that "potentially in the future" services could be done for "treating people with musculoskeletal pain, so sore knees, sore shoulders, that's one of the other procedures".

"And also it can be used in trauma, so to stop people with ruptured spleens or bleeding internally, we can use it for that," he said.

Walker said the new equipment was "now as up to date as any centre in the UK or anywhere in the world" and that some procedures would have "no recovery time at all".

"It's much more convenient, no overnight stays and also no need to have anaesthetists and things like that, and use up theatre staff."

He added it had been "a long project with lots of different departments involved".

Health Minister Deputy Tom Binet said the £3m funds had "been lying dormant for a very long time so it just seemed a very good idea to put the money to good use".

He added: "Some treatment will obviously still be required in the UK, but there's a lot of treatment that would have gone to the UK that will now stay here.

"That saves money and it also saves people's misery in going to have operations done elsewhere and having to travel."

Binet said the suite would have a role in treating "a number of different" health issues and that he was "delighted that we're going to have more people being treated better and more quickly".

Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.