Patients at a doctors' surgery will benefit from some of the latest equipment thanks to the generosity of a charity.
The donations from the Friends Supporting Lowestoft Healthcare – who were formerly called the Friends of Lowestoft Hospital – was made to the medical staff at Bridge Road Surgery in Oulton Broad recently.
The friends chairman, Pat Rayner, said: 'We have been discussing with the practice manager how our charity can help the surgery and they identified a number of items of equipment that would improve the service that they could offer to their patients.'
At a ceremony to formally hand over the equipment, nurse manager Nikki Shea demonstrated the items of equipment.
She said: 'The equipment that has kindly been bought includes three new electrically operated variable height medical couches, which will be used in the GP rooms.
'These will help patients who find it difficult to climb and are also more suitable for our larger patients as they take up to 120kg in weight. We have also received six portable blood pressure monitors to enable patients with apparent hypertension to record their blood pressures at home thus avoiding white coat syndrome. Other equipment will benefit very sick babies and small children where in the past it has been difficult to easily ascertain their oxygen saturations. The new small paediatric oxygen saturation monitor has a very small probe and neonatal probe as well.'
She added: 'Other updated equipment supplied includes finger pulse oximeters to check oxygen levels in the blood, a portable electro cardiograph which can be used for home visits, two dermalite skin blemishes testers, specialist eye test charts and a Panoptic ophthalmoscope for examination of the back of the eye.'
Practice manager, Clive Sillitoe, said: 'We are very grateful for all the new equipment which has cost almost £7,000 as it has been on our wish list for a while and it is going to improve the service that we can offer to our patients at Bridge Road as well as making our GP's and clinicians even more effective.'
? Have you got a Lowestoft story? Email mark.boggis@archant.co.uk
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