Spending the Funds Raised
With co-operation from the British Heart Foundation, The Heartbeat Challenge committee have managed to buy and donate the Echo Cardiac Machine (pictured) to the Raigmore Cardiology Department. This mobile unit can now be brought to the patient rather than have the patient brought to the machine. Dr Stephen Cross stated that without the money donated by the joint venture, he would have had to wait another two/three years before being able to buy it from NHS funds.
The next target is to buy handheld mini-echo machines that will be useful for screening patients in CCU and out-patients, so reducing the need for full echo scans, which will reduce waiting times.
Monies donated to and raised by the 2007 Challenge have enabled the purchase of a transoesophageal echo probe, which is working well and is in regular use at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness. This advanced probe allows high quality ultrasound pictures of the heart to be taken and is a particularly useful diagnostic aid.
There will always be a shortfall in funding in the NHS, and that is where the voluntary section will become more and more important.