Radiology

The service is provided by a skilled team of dedicated radiologists, radiographers and sonographers. There are also several radiographic assistants (RDAs) who support the clinical staff and a dedicated administration team who provide essential non-clinical support, dealing with a full range of patient presentations.

All referrals for imaging should be made directly to the department via ICE (our e-order system). Urgent requests can be discussed with a consultant radiologist. There is a central booking office to deal with all appointments for both Trafford and Altrincham. All departments in the Directorate of Clinical Radiology work together to identify the most suitable site for the scan or procedure to be performed at e.g. if a request is received at Trafford for a DEXA scan, an appointment will be made to perform the scan at MRI as this is where the DEXA service is run from.

Areas Within the Service

Ultrasound

Admission Information

By referral only.

Relatives and Escorts

The number of people allowed to remain with a patient during an examination varies dependent on the modality and the type of examination being undertaken. Generally, for safety reasons, a relative or escort cannot accompany the patient into the scanning room except in very special circumstances.

Siblings or other accompanying children are not permitted into the x-ray, CT or MR scan rooms. Parents/carers of patients attending as outpatients, particularly for longer examinations need to ensure that they have someone with them to mind any accompanying children.

Pregnant carers

A number of examinations involve exposing the patient to ionising radiation. Due to the increased risk to the foetus from ionising radiation, a carer who is pregnant:

May be able to go into an x-ray room but would not be able to help the patient during the examination.

Patients attending the department outside of core hours need to be accompanied by a member of nursing staff.

Location(s)

Altrincham General, Radiology Department, Ground Floor, Railway Street, Altrincham, WA14 2RQ

Opening Hours

8am – 8pm Monday to Friday

10am – 6pm Weekends and Bank holidays (Closed Christmas day, Boxing day and New Year’s Day )

Consultants

Contact Details

Monday – Friday 7.45am-5.45pm (answer machine outside of these times)

Reception 0161 413 8381

Appointments 0161 746 2001

The duty radiologist can be contacted via reception to discuss urgent requests.

Additional Support

Patients who are unable to communicate in English effectively, or those who have a sensory impairment, learning disabilities or mental health problems, are entitled to support to enable them to communicate effectively with health service staff. Trust policy is not to use staff members or relatives/friends in such role. You must let us know if you feel any support is required prior to attendance and we will arrange this for you.

Additional Information

Photography

Photography of images from screens in the examination rooms is not allowed. As with patient notes, should anyone wish to obtain a copy of any images then this should be formally requested via the Trust legal department

Infection Control

The department adheres to the trusts infection control standards and balances these along with their own radiation protection rules. Please ensure that radiology staff members are made fully aware of a patient’s infection control status prior to them attending the department.