The Sid Valley Practice Equipment Fund
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Our equipment fund aims to update the practice with the latest medical instruments to enhance the diagnosis and management of medical conditions. This is now a registered charity number: 1092261.
The following purchases have been made since 1997.
1. The purchase of eight thermoscans. These are electronic temperature monitors that can take a temperature in three seconds, rather than 3 minutes.
2. The purchase of four electronic blood pressure monitors for home use. These are loaned out to patients to either confirm the diagnosis of high blood pressure or to monitor treatment. They are ideal in excluding the transiently raised blood pressure experienced when patients visit the doctor (white coat hypertension).
3. The purchase of two electronic fetal heart monitors, used in antenatal monitoring.
4. An upgraded ECG machine to monitor for heart damage and short episodes of irregular beats.
The following purchases have been made since 1997.
1. The purchase of eight thermoscans. These are electronic temperature monitors that can take a temperature in three seconds, rather than 3 minutes.
2. The purchase of four electronic blood pressure monitors for home use. These are loaned out to patients to either confirm the diagnosis of high blood pressure or to monitor treatment. They are ideal in excluding the transiently raised blood pressure experienced when patients visit the doctor (white coat hypertension).
3. The purchase of two electronic fetal heart monitors, used in antenatal monitoring.
4. An upgraded ECG machine to monitor for heart damage and short episodes of irregular beats.
The Sidmouth Rotary Club have been remarkable in their hard work over the last few years in supporting our equipment fund.
5. VS20 CardioCall cardiac event recording monitors.
In 1999 their charity efforts allowed us to purchase 4 VS20 CardioCall cardiac event recording monitors for recording abnormal Heart Rhythm’s (Arrhythmia’s).
Arrhythmia’s can vary from trivial to life threatening, and are extremely difficult to detect without appropriate monitoring. The methods available are either the continuous monitoring with a 24 hour tape, or patient activated monitoring which the CardioCall VS20 is ideal for.
These monitors are loaned out for up to a week at a time, and therefore offer the a greater opportunity to record arrhythmia’s.
Hundreds of our patients have been screened using these monitors, of which many patient’s have had serious previous undiagnosed arrhythmias.
This trace reveals prolonged pauses of the heart which were causing the patient to collapse. The patient was treated with an urgent pacemaker insertion.
Many more patient’s have been reassured that that arrhythmias have not been serious.
This monitoring can also be used to detect cardiac causes of collapse as it has the ability to record up to a minutes trace preceding the collapse, where a pacemaker may for example be then indicated.
6. Cardiac Defibrillator’s
In 2001 the Sidmouth Rotary Club purchased a defibrillator for our main surgery and thanks to the hard work of Naomi Naylor with assisstance from The British Heart Foundation we have now purchased a similar machine for our Sidford Branch Surgery to be available to our patients in the event of a cardiac arrest.
A Cardiac Defibrillator is a machine which can diagnose, and initiate a D.C. shock to patients in a fatal arrhythmia.
The heart is a muscular pump, which beats regularly by synchronised intrinsic electrical activity. On occasions the heart's electrical activity can become gravely disorganised and the heart enters serious rhythms called ventricular fibrillation. This occurs most commonly following a heart attack but can occur following electrocution, drowning , or respiratory arrest .
Ventricular fibrillation results in a cardiac arrest and death unless the heart rhythm is restored within about 4 minutes.
If you would like to contribute to our equipment fund please contact our practice manager.