Heart scan boost for Glenfield heart services

UNDER-THREAT children’s heart services at Glenfield Hospital have been given a boost thanks to the donation of a £54,000 scanner.

East Midlands charity Heart Link handed over the new portable echocardiogram machine to the centre which is fighting plans from NHS England to stop surgery at the unit.

Despite the proposals the East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre (EMCHC) is increasingly busy with progressively greater demand for several patients to be scanned at the same time.

Heart Link hope the new scanner will help ease the pressure. The fifth at Glenfield, the new scanner most specifically helps to streamline care on Ward 30, allowing nurses and doctors to make urgent decisions promptly without compromising other parts of the service.

It also gets children home earlier as they don’t have to wait for a scanner and means more staff can physically do scans, helping with training.

The lightweight machine can be used for both children and adults.

Almost half of the money for the scanner, £25,000, was raised by Heart4Hendrix, a charity set up by Countesthorpe couple Jem Norton and Ross Kirk whose son Hendrix was born with heart defects and treated at Glenfield but died at 18 months.

Frances Bu’Lock, consultant paediatric cardiologist at EMCHC, who treated Hendrix personally, said: “We are very grateful for this incredibly generous donation from Heart Link and the Heart4Hendrix fundraisers. With their help we are able to regularly improve the service we provide our young patients.”

Heart4Hendrix campaign raises money through regular events and has previously been backed by celebrities such as Peter Andre, Lorraine Kelly and supermodel Caprice.

Money has been raised through raffles, auctions and a now annual cycle from Leicester to Skegness. All of the money raised goes towards Heart Link, one of the main charities which raises money for the Glenfield unit.