Download MEDIA INFORMATION Ipswich team wins major UK

MEDIA INFORMATION
Ipswich team wins major UK-award for their work in helping
patients to better understand their cancer treatment
Louisa Adler, trainee radiotherapy physicist and Alex Knights and Dean Garnham,
therapeutic radiographers at Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust have won a major UK award for
their work in adapting a radiotherapy training system to help patients better understand
their cancer treatment.
The award is the Academy for Healthcare Science award for professionalism in practice,
within the Advancing Healthcare awards for allied health professionals, healthcare scientists
and those who work with them.
VERT™ is a virtual environment of a radiotherapy treatment room. Through 3D views and
lifesize visualizations, it gives radiation therapy information, training and education to
students, nurses, multi-disciplinary team members and the general public.
Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust was provided with a portable VERT™ system and asked to look at
ways of increasing its use. Now patients and relatives are able to come along and ask any
questions about their treatment. The VERT™ system is used to discuss the planning process,
onset imaging and different treatment techniques available.
Radiographers and clinicians say that patients are well informed about the process and
possible side effects. As a consequence, they cope far better with the rigours of their
radiotherapy treatment. The feedback from patients is universally positive. The judges
thought this was an excellent example of multi-professional working that was transferable to
other areas.
The 2014 awards were presented by Roy Lilley, NHS commentator and author, at a
celebration lunch on Friday 11 April at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London. The
awards, in their eighth year, are organised by Chamberlain Dunn for allied health
professionals, healthcare scientists and those who work along side them.
They are sponsored by NHS England, NHS Employers, Unite the Union, the Scottish,
Welsh and Northern Ireland health departments, Health Education England, the
Academy for Healthcare Science, the Institute for Physics and Engineering in
Medicine, the Allied Health Professions Federation, the Society and College of
Radiographers, Pulse, GateHouse and Caboo Design.
For photographs and further information, please contact Linnet Giffin on 020 8334
4500 [email protected] or Alison Dunn on [email protected]