Patient areas in the West of Scotland PET Centre in Glasgow have just undergone a £10,000 makeover, to make the surroundings a little more welcoming for people coming to make use of the services provided there.
The work at the centre, which is part of the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, was paid for through a grant from Beatson Cancer Charity and allowed teams to install new seating and tables, a new TV with live updates, and new wayfinding signage. It also allowed the centre to commission nine new original artworks for the reception area and patient rooms, to bring the outdoors in to where patients spent the majority of their time.
Dr Sandy Small, Consultant Clinical Physicist and Head of Nuclear Medicine on the Gartnavel Campus, said: “When patients come to the centre, they spend the majority of their time in little clinic rooms to receive their injection of a radio tracer ahead of going for their scan.
“They spend one to one-and-a-half hours in here and, given the fact they’re radioactive, they are completely isolated. We monitor them via camera, but they’re encouraged to stay in the room apart from going to the toilet.
“We wanted to do something to distract them – to make this little space more welcoming and calming – and given the enclosed nature of the spaces, we also wanted to create something that resonated with being outside, so we wanted something nature-related.”
All staff were involved in conversations about sprucing up the patient areas, but it was Ana Matos, PET CT Imaging Service Manager, who came up with the idea for the artworks.
“It went from there basically,” said Dr Small, “we secured funding from Beatson Cancer Charity late last year, and the work went ahead in stages, with last of the artworks being installed on 12th December.
The team wanted to use a local artist for the artworks, so Ana did some research online and found Ida Henrich.
“I really liked her work,” Ana said, “so I approached her and she said yes! She came and had a look around the centre to get an understanding of the work we did here, and what we were thinking of.
“Ida was brilliant. She really got what we were looking for and, though we gave her some vague ideas – such as ‘can it be nature themed’ and ‘water would be nice’ – we basically left her to it.”
Not long after, Ida came back with some mock-ups and all staff were once again involved in finalising the artworks – especially the front door sign, which everyone thought was particularly important.
Now the pictures are installed, staff are really proud that they have something permanent to improve life just a little for patients as they go through an isolated and often scary procedure.
Ann Traquair-Smith, Director of Diagnostics at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “The PET Centre is a critical aspect of the work done at the Beatson, and we are happy that we could make these changes, to improve the surroundings for our patients. All of our staff work so hard to provide the best possible care, so it is especially pleasing that the team at the PET centre put so much additional effort into this project.
“I would like to thank them all for their help and commitment, and especially Ana for coming up with such a lovely idea. I’d also like to thank Beatson Cancer Charity for helping to make this possible.”
Graham Hart, grants officer at Beatson Cancer Charity, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have been able to fund these upgrades in the West of Scotland PET Centre. The aim of this project is to help reduce anxiety for Beatson patients undergoing a PET/CT scan.
“We hope this will help to enhance the overall patient experience and support future patients.”
