Martin O'Neill applauded for appeal over 'antiquated' scanner

IT BELONGS in a museum of medicine. But the 12-year-old CT scanner at Glasgow's Beatson Oncology Centre is still at the frontline of the battle against cancer in a city with one of the worst rates of the disease in the UK.

Despite the extra billions pumped into the National Health Service, the Beatson is struggling along with this venerable machine for want of considerably less than 1m.

The consequences for patients are potentially catastrophic. Speed and accuracy are essential in combating the cancer menace but Beatson patients face a longer wait to be examined and a greater chance of misdiagnosis simply because the scanner is so old.

Thousands of people a year are placed on a tray and slowly moved inside the chamber of the scanner, which uses X-rays to produce a detailed image of the inside of the body.

Among the patients examined in recent years was Geraldine O'Neill, now seriously ill with lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. The 49-year-old happens to be the wife of outgoing Celtic manager Martin O'Neill, and so - for the second time in five weeks - public attention is focused on the age of Beatson's CT scanner, and why one of the richest nations is struggling to fund a modern replacement.

Last month, during the general election campaign, a team of Beatson doctors went public with their frustration at the failure to replace the scanner. They published two years' worth of correspondence with ministers, detailing the lack of progress.

The fact is, the most cancer-stricken area of Scotland has the oldest CT scanner. When O'Neill called it "antiquated", he was not exaggerating. As well as being 12 years old, the scanner is based on technology developed 15 years ago. By the government's own guidelines, it should have been replaced in 2000.

While the existing scanner allows doctors to assess the location and size of tumours, newer machines work in seconds rather than minutes and give far more detailed images of tumours, allowing doctors to zoom in on specific areas of the body. They also eliminate distortion in pictures caused by the patient breathing.

As well as giving faster and more accurate diagnosis, modern machines minimise the need for extra tests such as cystoscopy, which involves sticking a tube into the bladder, and allow for better targeting of radiotherapy.

But Greater Glasgow NHS Board does not presently have the 750,000 it needs to replace the scanner. At the same time, government critics point out that the Scottish Executive was able to find 1.2m last year alone to fund the advertising for its healthy eating advice line, which attracted as few as eight calls a day.

Meanwhile, other areas of Scotland are able to rely on more modern equipment. The CT scanners in Inverness, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee are less than five years old.

In Glasgow, patients and health professionals alike wonder why the Beatson is still waiting for a replacement when cancer rates in the city are 30% higher than the Scottish average.

The doctor who last month highlighted the failure to replace the ageing scanner has welcomed O'Neill's words.

Dr Nigel McMillan brought the state of cancer care equipment in Scotland to the top of the political agenda by revealing the series of letters between doctors and ministers. He said: "I welcome his words, although in a way it's a pity that it takes something like this to bring it to everyone's attention. Too often the health service is being forced to make do and make the best of what it has.

"I would like to think that we in the NHS in Scotland would get things replaced because they need to be replaced, in the normal way of things, using the normal system of funding from the health service budget. But if we need to rely on a special appeal to get the equipment then that is better than nothing happening at all.

"But here in the west of Scotland, where cancer is a common killer, we should have better resources than we have. If we look at the most modern scanners, the PET [positron emission tomography] scanners, there are five in the UK, but that compares to 70 in France and more in Germany."

Explaining the difference the more modern equipment would make to diagnosis, McMillan said: "The current machine takes about 10 minutes to produce the scan, which compares to 20 or 30 seconds for the more modern ones. And that matters in terms of how many people we can scan. And while older machines will allow us to spot tumours, the newer ones will allow us a much more detailed image of the tumours, meaning we can make a much better diagnosis much more quickly."

Michael Summers, the chairman of the Patients' Association, said: "The failure to provide the new equipment needed just isn't fair on patients who need the best care available to them. The lack of equipment is letting down patients and it is embarrassing. I was recently in the United States and found that some of their individual states have as many scanners as there are in the whole of Britain."

The Beatson itself has been at the centre of public attention in the past over staffing difficulties. In 2001 the unit was plunged into crisis when four consultants quit within a month. Despite a worldwide search for staff, the unit remained perilously close to having to shut for over a year. Since then the staffing situation has improved and the unit is running with the full number of consultants.

Shona Robison, the SNP health spokeswoman, said: "I welcome Martin O'Neill's initiative and the fact that he has raised the profile for the need for the most up-to-date equipment to be available in Scotland. That is a good thing. It may put pressure on the Scottish Executive and on the health minister to deliver more up-to-date equipment. We are told constantly about the record levels of spending in the health service. It is about time that we saw some results."

Nanette Milne, the Scottish Tory health spokeswoman, said: "I worry that too much time and effort and money is being focused on targets rather than on the equipment which the professionals need to do their job and help patients.

"If we are going to win the battle against cancer then we are going to need to spend the money on capital equipment and that is not happening. If the equipment is bought privately, or by charity, then we should welcome that."

A spokesman for Cancer Research UK said: "We welcome Martin O'Neill's commitment to raising money for the fight against cancer, and we wish Geraldine well as she undergoes treatment."

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said that cancer was a major priority for ministers, with an extra 25m per year being directly spent in fighting the disease and involving more than 300 staff being recruited for more rapid diagnosis and treatment.

Meanwhile, Celtic Football Club has said that it is looking into donating cash to cancer care in Scotland. A Parkhead spokesman said: "Clearly, Celtic would be delighted to support such a great cause and we will be considering ways in which we can assist in this fundraising effort. Our charity fund will be looking at the best ways to do this, whether through a fundraising match or other means."

O'Neill himself insists he is not looking for sympathy, and has highlighted the courage amid suffering which he saw around him. He said: "I promise you at the end of the day, I'm sat here and I'm not looking for one ounce of sympathy.

"Everybody has problems, everybody, and people cope in their own way and I don't have a monopoly on it. We had a groundsman who lost his wife, and the doorman, John, lost his wife. They were 42 years married, and he lost his wife 10 days ago and he's absolutely devastated. Look at leukaemia, people we have had in here, young kids, who have only got weeks left to live."