On Thursday the 9th of February starting at 11am Kris Weavill (Diagnostic & Imaging Systems Manager), along with friends and colleagues will be streaming for 24 hours playing Surgeon Simulator 2, a comedic game about wacky surgery and Minecraft where together with select community members we will be building a virtual hospital. He will be on site at Scunthorpe General Hospital in the heart of the Radiology department and will stay there until 11am the following day.

This marathon will be in aid of the "Improving MRI At Scunthorpe General Hospital" appeal from the Health Tree Foundation. Kris will be playing Minecraft and working with people to build a virtual hospital in 24 hours. Stopping occasionally to run a competition for fastest heart surgeon amongst the staff of Scunthorpe General Hospital. All live on Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Foundation Trust's YouTube channel.

The audience will be invited to name wards and doctors as we play and anyone on-site at the hospital is welcome to pop down and assist in the planning of the virtual hospital or a bit of heart surgery. Hospital staff: Feel free to e-mail Kris if you would like to book a half hour to come down and assist on your break, or just drop off coffee and snacks!

Every year 100's of people, young and old, need to undergo MRI scans. MRI is one of the most common imaging exams but presents a challenge for many patients. Anyone who has been through this will tell you it can be a daunting time. For some the MRI experience causes feelings of stress, fear, anxiety and claustrophobia, meaning that unfortunately many scans have to be abandoned. For others their fear is so acute sedation or a general anaesthetic is required. The Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust have invested in a new MRI suite which opened in Scunthorpe in early 2022. As part of this project Health Tree Foundation are fundraising to purchase additional, enhanced equipment to make life much easier for the increasing number of people needing MRI. We want to purchase a system that will help keep our most vulnerable patients safer and calmer.

Even before the scan begins, patients can choose various colour lighting in the MRI scanner room which can be changed to suit their requirements, creating a relaxing and warm environment. The in-bore experience allows them to view relaxing images and films as well as listening to immersive sounds whist undergoing their treatment. This experience reduces patient anxiety and improves patient throughput and comfort within the MRI scanner. The unique Ambient Experience in-bore takes this experience to another level by providing information and guidance to the patient during scanning as well as information about scan progress leading to a reduction in abandoned scans due to claustrophobia and therefore less patients requiring sedation or general anaesthetic.

Kris’ team directly supports the Radiology clinicians making sure that scanners and the underlying IT systems are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week for patient care. Therefore this cause is close to the teams heart!

We will be posting on social media throughout the run up so please feel free to share, retweet and like any posts you see. You can find us on twitter: @NLAGDigitalSvs or @NHSNLAG

Anyone wishing to watch the stream live can use this link: [Stream Link to Follow]

For more information or to get involved contact kris.weavill@nhs.net