University Hospitals Birmingham Charity is launching an ambitious £7.2 million appeal to bring groundbreaking imaging technology to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham – a development that could transform care for thousands of patients and change the future of medical research.
The charity is raising funds for a state-of-the-art Total Body PET CT Scanner, a revolutionary piece of equipment that will provide faster, safer and more accurate scans for patients across the Midlands and beyond.
For many patients, the impact will be life changing. The scanner will open up access to advanced imaging for people who currently face some of the greatest challenges.
Children who often require a general anaesthetic to remain still during lengthy scans could instead be scanned in just minutes, reducing the stress and risks associated with sedation. For pregnant women facing serious illness, the technology could remove the heartbreaking dilemma of balancing their own healthcare needs against concerns for their unborn baby, thanks to a significantly lower radiation dose.
The scanner will reduce scan times from around 30 minutes to just five minutes, making the experience quicker, more comfortable and less daunting for patients already facing difficult diagnoses. At the same time, it will produce exceptionally detailed images while requiring less radiation exposure.
By dramatically increasing scanning capacity, the technology is expected to create more than 2,000 additional appointments each year, helping more patients receive answers, begin treatment sooner and spend less time waiting.
But the impact reaches far beyond today’s patients.
The Total Body PET CT Scanner will place Birmingham at the forefront of medical innovation, creating opportunities for pioneering research that are currently impossible. Patients will be able to access cutting-edge clinical trials earlier, giving them access to potential new treatments before they become widely available.
The scanner’s unique ability to image the entire body simultaneously will help researchers and clinicians gain unprecedented insights into some of the most complex and devastating conditions facing society, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes-related illnesses, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
By revealing how different organs and systems interact across the body, the technology has the potential to unlock breakthroughs in understanding disease, leading to more accurate diagnoses, more personalised treatments and better outcomes for future generations.
The rich data generated by the scanner will support world-leading research, helping clinicians develop the next generation of treatments and ensuring patients benefit from the very latest advances in medicine.
Principal Radiographer PET CT for University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust, Andy Nightingale said, “Laying quietly for anybody, especially children and very young children, can be quite daunting for them and being told not to move for up to 30 minutes is incredibly difficult. However, if we manage to fund this scanner, we can scan much quicker down to just 5 minutes, which means that children are more capable of laying still and means less need for a general anaesthetic.
“This is a great opportunity, thanks to the hospital’s Charity, to not have to rely on general anaesthetic for our young patients. As well as being quicker it would also mean lower doses of radiation and much clearer diagnostics.”
University Hospitals Birmingham Charity is now calling on individuals, businesses and communities across the region to help make this transformative vision a reality.
Every donation will bring Birmingham one step closer to becoming a leading centre for advanced imaging and medical research – improving care not only for patients today, but for countless others in the years to come.
To support the £7.2 million appeal and help bring this groundbreaking technology to Birmingham, visit hospitalcharity.org.
