Paul Todd, Assistant Head (Teaching and Learning) at Norwich School ran the London Marathon in April to raise funds towards gastrointestinal endoscopy equipment for the new Endoscopy Centre, which will be housed in the Quadram Institute.
Paul was inspired to raise funds for this cause by one of his pupils who received life-saving treatment from the NNUH’s endoscopy team. Louis himself was an excellent runner and rugby player until he suddenly fell ill with life-threatening haemorrhages. Thanks to the treatment from the NNUH endoscopy clinicians and nurses, Louis is recovering well and hoping to be back running very soon, and wanted to thank the skilled NNUH staff by raising funds for new equipment.
The NNUH’s endoscopy team provide a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic services that involve using cameras on long thin flexible tubes to examine the inside of the body. The unit is a national centre of excellence and is home to the East of England Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.
The new facilities at the Quadram Institute will more than double the current capacity for routine screening and treatment of bowel conditions and, when fully opened, will have capacity for at least 40,000 procedures each year. This will make it one of the largest centres of its kind in Europe. The partnership and colocation with 300 scientists working on diet and gut health in the Quadram Institute promises to put Norwich at the forefront of the development of new treatments and therapies for a range of bowel health conditions.
On their visit, Paul and Louis were given a chance to see behind the scenes of the endoscopy centre, which very few people will be able to do once it is fully operational. They were also shown the new laboratories and clinical research facilities, to get a flavour of how clinicians and scientists will be working together on a day-to-day basis.
Opening fully in summer 2018, the £75m Quadram Institute is a partnership between the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Quadram Institute Bioscience (formerly the Institute of Food Research), the University of East Anglia and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Its mission is to understand how food and the gut microbiota are linked to the promotion of health and the prevention of disease, with an emphasis on diet and age-related diseases.
NNUH Fundraising Manager Louise Cook said: “We were delighted to give Paul and Louis a sneak preview of the Quadram Institute today. We are very grateful for the support and money Paul has raised for our gastro team. The N&N Charity helps makes a difference to our hospital patients.
