Healthcare Science Week provided an opportunity for us to spotlight the amazing work of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s healthcare science professionals and the difference they make to patients’ lives.
As the annual week of celebration and awareness raising comes to a close for another year, we wanted to reflect on some of the stories shared and events that took place.
It included profiles on staff members working on healthcare sciences such as Lana Taylor, a Senior Genetic Technologist at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Lana told of the “positive impact” her role can have on patients as she carries out genetic tests which can identify differences in people’s DNA that are associated with various diseases.
We also featured Laura Heeps, a Trainee Clinical Scientist in genomics and molecular pathology who is based at the West of Scotland centre for Genomic Medicine at the QEUH.
She is involved in the analysis and interpretation of data produced from many different techniques which are designed to find variations in people’s DNA, which can help with diagnosis or identifying those who may need to be carefully monitored for diseases.
Kirsty Nicolson, a Hearing Aid Audiologist at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, also explained her role in a video posted on social media.
And Clinical Scientist George Bruce, who specialises in MRI Physics, explained how his career was inspired by the care he’d received as a teenager when he was diagnosed with a rare condition.
Meanwhile, information stalls were set up around our sites to raise awareness of Healthcare Sciences and the work carried out, with stands held at the QEUH, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
The week kicked off with a visit from Public Health Minister Jenni Minto to the QEUH campus, where she met several healthcare scientists working across a range of specialisms.
She became one of the first people to see the new state-of-the-art Gamma Camera scanner which was recently installed in the Nuclear Medicine Department at the Royal Hospital for Children.
The scanner can be used to acquire static photos and dynamic videos of radiation within the body and by rotating the detector around the patient, it can also produce 3D images of the radiation within the patient, known as SPECT images.
Ms Minto, who was joined by Scottish Government’s Chief Scientific Officer Catherine Ross, also toured the Department of Microbiology, Maxillofacial Laboratory and the Paediatric Respiratory and Sleep Physiology Department.
There are a wide range of careers and roles within Healthcare Science in NHSGGC, with more information available here.
