When minutes mean life or death
The purchase of the CT scanner is part of a PLN 12.5 million investment financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (KPO). The funds were allocated to the Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology with the Centre for Management of Venous Thromboembolic Disease. Investments at the hospital on Lindley Street are being carried out using funds from KPO support pool obtained by the UCC.
The new CT scanner is located in the ED, the very place where diagnostic and therapeutic decisions often have to be made immediately. In patients with suspected stroke, myocardial infarction, acute pulmonary embolism or multiple-organ trauma, every minute matters.
“From today, we are in a great position because, directly from the ED, we will be able to make decisions about further patient treatment very quickly and precisely,” said Prof. Piotr Pruszczyk, head of the department, during the ceremony inaugurating the launch of the new CT scanner.
Placing the device directly in the Emergency Department eliminates the need to transport critically ill patients to the Department of Clinical Radiology located in another hospital building. This means a shorter diagnostic pathway, less risk associated with patient transport and faster initiation of treatment.
“Time is important in every area of medicine, but in emergency medicine it plays a fundamental role. These saved minutes translate into tangible therapeutic success,” pointed out Prof. Rafał Krenke, Rector of WUM.
Spectral technology makes it possible to obtain highly precise images while simultaneously reducing the radiation dose. This is important both for patient safety and for the quality of diagnostics in the most difficult clinical cases.
Funding for Polish cardiology and a milestone for the hospital
Katarzyna Kacperczyk, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Health, attended the opening of the imaging facility. She noted that the purchase of the CT scanner is part of a broader project being efficiently implemented by UCC WUM.
“The fact that the investment financed by KPO was completed so quickly is thanks to the government, the hospital management and the hospital team, and it was not an easy task,” the minister acknowledged. “I am immensely satisfied that through investments supported by the Ministry of Health we can use these resources for assistance in cardiac care for patients while also improving the quality and comfort of working in hospitals,” she added.
The minister also thanked UCC WUM specialists for their participation in work on solutions and reforms that made it possible to allocate PLN 2.6 billion from KPO to the development of cardiology throughout Poland, including investments at the Infant Jezus Clinical Hospital.
During less busy hours in the Emergency Department, the new CT scanner will also be available for the diagnosis of scheduled patients and patients hospitalized in other departments. This will allow the hospital to make better use of the equipment's potential and reduce waiting times for examinations. Prof. Paweł Łęgosz, Deputy Director for Medical Services at the Infant Jezus Clinical Hospital, UCC WUM, and Head of the Chair and Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology of the Locomotor System, confirmed that the new equipment will improve diagnostic services throughout the hospital.
“The purchase of the new CT scanner using KPO funds is a milestone for our hospital. Thanks to this investment, we are reducing the patient's diagnostic pathway in the Emergency Department to an absolute minimum. Equally importantly, the new equipment will help relieve the workload of our Department of Radiology, increasing the diagnostic capacity of the entire hospital,” explained Prof. Paweł Łęgosz.
The purchase of the device is part of the modernization of the equipment base of the Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology. As part of the project, a number of items were also purchased, including high-end echocardiographs and a cardiopulmonary exercise testing system (spiroergometry), and also angiography system, telemetry, Holter monitoring system and patient monitoring system in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit were expanded.
The project was implemented under the KPO programme for the development and modernization of the infrastructure of highly specialized care centres in the field of cardiology. Its aim is to increase the efficiency, accessibility and quality of healthcare services.
In addition to the people mentioned above, the event was attended by, among others: Marzena Kowalczyk, Director of UCC WUM; Prof. Paweł Włodarski, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at WUM; Prof. Marcin Grabowski, Head of the 1st Department and Clinic of Cardiology at WUM; Dr Bogdan Stelmach, Head of the Emergency Department; Michał Szczechula, District Leader, Health Systems CEE, Philips; and Stanisław Ostrowski, President of the Management Board of Kosmed, and medical staff from the department and hospital and representatives of the UCC WUM administration.
