HSBC donates Scotland’s first kitten scanner to Glasgow children’s hospital

Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children has taken receipt of Scotland’s first revolutionary ‘Kitten Scanner’ at its Imaging and Diagnostics department courtesy of HSBC Hamilton.

The ‘Kitten Scanner’ is a miniature version of a real MRI scanner and the hospital’s Play Team use it to show the children how the scanner works and take the anxiety out of the real procedure. The scanner has been purchased as part of a wider project to enhance the entire Imaging Preparation Suite.

The staff at HSBC in Hamilton raised funds for the Kitten Scanner by fundraising for Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity through the year, taking part in activities including skydives, bake sales, sponsored walks and a charity night.

Alison McGregor, chief executive officer, HSBC Scotland, said: “The staff at the HSBC Hamilton Contact Centre are proud to have had the opportunity to support this very worthwhile charity and the thousands of children and their families who will have access to the Imaging Preparation Suite.”

At the Royal Hospital for Children one in five MRI scans or CT scans are carried out while children are under general anaesthetic due to anxieties about the procedure. The aim of the ‘Kitten Scanner’ is to remove the fear, stress and anxiety associated with the procedure and therefore reduce the amount of general anaesthetic admissions required.

Kirsten Sinclair, director of fundraising at Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the staff at the HSBC Hamilton Contact Centre for their invaluable support throughout 2017. The whole team have really got behind our charity partnership, and have thrown themselves into their fundraising endeavours with real enthusiasm. These enhancements to the Imaging and Preparation Suite will help thousands of children each year, making an immediate difference to their experience in hospital.”

The Kitten Scanner will be operated by the hospital’s dedicated Play Team. The team does this with a series of animal toys which, when placed under the scanner, trigger a story that is relayed to the children explaining how the scan works and outlining why they need a scan. The scan then shows the ‘insides’ of the toy animal which further clarifies the scanner’s purpose.

Amelie Trotter, a six-year old patient at the hospital, will be one of the patients who will benefit from the Kitten Scanner. Her Dad, Walter Trotter, can already foresee the benefits this will have for his child and others in the hospital: “When we first attended the hospital Amelie was just three and, as you can imagine, she was petrified of the scan and the scanner itself. This meant most of her scans were being carried out under general anaesthetic, resulting long days in hospital and a stressful time for everyone.

“There is an obvious benefit to get the kids to a stage when a general anaesthetic is not required, and I’m sure this equipment will be very much appreciated by everyone who benefits.”