An exciting new service for the whole of Warwickshire was announced at the AGM of the Friends of St Cross on the 28th June 2017.
Kara Marshall, Group Manager for Women’s and Children’s Services came to the AGM and thanked the Charity for their support in offering to buy the specialist equipment needed to establish a Flexible Outpatient Cystoscopy Urogynaecology Service (FOCUS) in the Owen Building at St Cross.
Kara explained that: “Women are referred to the Urogynaecology service if they have problems with refractory urinary incontinence, lower urinary tract symptoms or complications from previous incontinence or prolapse surgery. Currently to treat or diagnose their condition, patients have to travel to University Hospital in Coventry for a procedure that requires general anaesthesia and an overnight stay in hospital. The new service in Rugby will introduce outpatient diagnostic and therapeutic flexible cystoscopy clinics with new equipment so patients will only need a local anaesthetic and can go home the same day.”
The FOCUS clinic will be led by Mrs Supriya Bulchandani (Consultant Obstetrician and Urogynaecologist/ Clinical Lead for Urogynaecology), who said: “This service will benefit women who are referred to the Urogynaecology service by providing a more accessible service and reducing waiting times currently associated with an inpatient admission. This allows us to improve the standard of care for our patients, and the reputation of Urogynaecology in Coventry and Warwickshire. Initially we will offer one clinic per month, with an additional slot on a fortnightly basis in the already established Urogynaecology clinics at St Cross. Longer term, we plan to develop nurse-led flexible cystoscopy clinics supported by the Consultant Clinical Lead to be able to offer even more appointments facilitating service expansion for patients across Warwickshire. We are very thankful to the Friends of St Cross for helping us to introduce this new service for our patients.”
Willy Goldschmidt, Chairman of the Friends of St Cross, said: “The Trustees are extremely proud to be able to approve a request for equipment costing £41,400 to help to bring a second new service to be developed at St Cross this year for the benefit of the patients from Rugby, Coventry and Warwickshire and across the West Midlands. Together with the commitment for the Sleep Studies Observation Unit and the creation of a more child-friendly Children’s Outpatient Department and various other smaller requests this brings the total promised so far this year to £180,000. Of course we can only achieve this with the support of the community whose passion for the Hospital of St Cross is shared by our volunteers and the superb staff at St Cross.”
Photo:
L-R: Mrs Supriya Bulchandani, Consultant Obstetrician and Urogynaecologist/ Clinical Lead for Urogynaecology; Suzanne Hammond, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Urogynaecology; Kara Marshall, Group Manager for Women & Children outside the Owen Building in the Hospital of St Cross.