It is probably something that many of us thought only belonged in a futuristic television series watched in childhood. Swallow a camera the size of a vitamin pill that can take 55,000 pictures and turn 360° in your small intestine to detect medical problems. What? Knock me down with a feather, Scottie!
This technology has now become available, however, with the introduction of the PillCAM, a diagnostic tool, developed by Medtronic. It is already widely used in Europe and has been applied in some colon testing in Ireland. Now the first national small bowel pilot study of the PillCAM has begun at the Bons Secours Hospital in Dublin. In all, 50 patients are testing the latest version of the pill camera.
Easier on the patient
Colonoscopy (a fibre-optic camera inserted into the rectum under sedation) has been the norm for bowel tests up to now but it was often difficult, with such tests, to examine the small intestine thoroughly. The PillCAM will offer easier, more precise investigation of this, manufacturers and Bons Secours spokespeople say.
It will also eliminate a few procedures to boot: sedation and intubation (the long tube being inserted into the bowel via the rectum to search for inflammation or growths). Insufflation (air/gas being blown into body cavities) won’t be necessary and radiation isn’t involved either.
A pre-treatment appointment with a consultant will often be eliminated as, with the PillCAM, you can be referred directly by your GP for the test. You swallow the camera under hospital supervision, then go about your business for 24 hours.
There are specific laxative and fasting instructions prior to the test, of course, the same as for the traditional colonoscopy. This is in order to clean out the bowel so the camera can see the interior clearly.
High-tech health
After the PillCAM is swallowed, the person wears a sensor waist belt that records the data sent to it by the camera. A specialist downloads the information and views the footage when you return the belt to the clinic the following morning.
The person’s GP will have the results within 72 hours. There’s no need to worry about the camera either. It should pass out of the body naturally within a day or so, according to Medtronic, and doesn’t have to be retained.
The private Bons Secours hospital’s new endoscopy unit opened a year ago and the new Direct Access Endoscopy Service was launched at the same time as this 50-person pilot of PillCAM on 29 August.
Minister for Health Simon Harris TD welcomed the new developments: “The launch of this service demonstrates Bon Secours Health Systems’ commitment to continuously raising levels of access and quality and safety to patients requiring endoscopy procedures.
“This is a very important area of work where I am expecting significant progress in the future, as the implementation of the endoscopy programme will increase capacity and bring benefit to the Irish health service nationwide.”
Bronwyn Brophy, vice president of early technologies EMEA at Medtronic said that the PillCAM capsule range of products has the potential to revolutionise the future of endoscopy procedures, adding that the products could play a major role in improving Irish Healthcare and in reducing waiting lists.
Trial patient Gerry Doran from Dublin, who tried the PillCAM and attended the launch of the pilot scheme, said he liked the simplicity of the procedure. “You get the results in a day – even quicker than blood test results, so you’re not waiting and worrying too long.”
Note: There is no procedure without risk. A rare risk with the pill camera is that it is retained in the body.
Have your say on the future of Ireland’s home-care legislation
Are you using home-care services at the moment? Is someone in your family doing so? Are you involved in care of the elderly, in any way, or in representative organisations? Or are you just a member of the public who would like to make a point about home care legislation and how it should be planned?
Now’s your chance to have a say. You have until 2 October to complete a consultation paper (short or long questionnaire) to make your opinions known before legislation for a new home-care scheme is drafted in this country.
Should people in need of care be able to use equity in their homes to fund extra home care so they can go on living at home rather than go into a nursing home, under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Fair Deal)? How should future home-care schemes be planned? What are the important points that you’d like to make?
While Family Carers Ireland welcomes Minister Harris opening a public consultation on home-care services it is urging that the scope of the legislation be broad.
To take part in the online survey, visit health.gov.ie/consultations and click on these links:
• Improving Home Care Services in Ireland: Have Your Say (Easy read version – for individual responses).• Improving Home Care Services in Ireland: Have Your Say (A more detailed version of the paper if representing organisations).If you have any questions or would like to be sent a copy of the consultation paper, email the Department of Health at homecareconsultation@health.gov.ie; phone (01) 635 4402 or (01) 635 4732; or write to Home Care Consultation, Room 204, Department of Health, Hawkins House, Hawkins Street, Dublin 2, D02 VW90.
The closing date for submissions is 6pm on Monday 2 October 2017. All submissions received will be subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2014 and may be released in response to a Freedom of Information request.
Catherine Cox of Family Carers Ireland
“A statutory entitlement to homecare has been one of the major policy asks of Family Carers Ireland for many years. While we welcome the consultation process as a signal of intent, we are disappointed that the focus of the initial phase of the consultation seems to be on how best to reconfigure and regulate the existing services of home-help and home-care packages.
“While these are important questions, should the consultation remain this narrow it will exclude a variety of other vital supports, such as respite care, aids and appliances, housing adaptation grants and transport.
“We are also concerned that the consultation appears to lean heavily towards older people. It is essential that the needs of those under the age of 65 with disabilities and life-limiting conditions are also addressed.”
“Today, one in 20 people in Ireland is a family carer, providing some €10bn in unpaid care each year. By 2030, demographic changes will require one in five to take on a caring role. It is of paramount importance that where a person is supported to remain at home with the help of a family carer then the carer’s own needs must also be assessed and addressed through a carers’ needs assessment, with resources to support carers to care safely and with dignity at home.
“Regardless of the outcome of this important consultation, existing home-care services remain chronically underfunded. A commitment to significantly increase funding towards home care and respite in Budget 2018 would send the strongest message possible that this government is firmly committed to delivering a fully funded, consistent and equitable system of homecare,” concludes Catherine Cox.
Visit www.familycarers.ie for more information.
CALLING ALL
VOLUNTEERS
THE search is on for Ireland’s best
Do you know someone who does a lot of volunteer work in your community? Volunteer Ireland, the national volunteer development agency and support body is looking for nominations for this competition.
There are 10 different award categories, along with the prestigious Christine Buckley Volunteer of the Year award. The 10 categories are: animals and environment; arts, culture and media; campaigning and awareness raising; children and youth community; safety and emergency services; health and disability, social work and social inclusion; sports and recreation; and outstanding group (of volunteers).
“These awards give us an opportunity to say thank you for volunteers’ remarkable work,” says Nina Arwitz, CE of Volunteer Ireland.
Nominations close at midnight on Friday 6 October and can be made online at www.volunteer.ie with a gala awards ceremony in Sligo on 1 December.
DIARY DATE
There will be a major conference for those with rare sight loss, titled the Retina 2017 conference, to be held at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin.
It will include a patient engagement day to mark World Sight Day and will be hosted by Fighting Blindness Ireland, on Saturday 14 October. Attendees will meet international eye experts
and get an opportunity to ask about cutting-edge research, clinical trials and treatments underway.
Register your
attendance at www.retina.ie or call (01) 678 9004 for further information. Email research@fightingblindness.ie.
It is probably something that many of us thought only belonged in a futuristic television series watched in childhood. Swallow a camera the size of a vitamin pill that can take 55,000 pictures and turn 360° in your small intestine to detect medical problems. What? Knock me down with a feather, Scottie!
This technology has now become available, however, with the introduction of the PillCAM, a diagnostic tool, developed by Medtronic. It is already widely used in Europe and has been applied in some colon testing in Ireland. Now the first national small bowel pilot study of the PillCAM has begun at the Bons Secours Hospital in Dublin. In all, 50 patients are testing the latest version of the pill camera.
Easier on the patient
Colonoscopy (a fibre-optic camera inserted into the rectum under sedation) has been the norm for bowel tests up to now but it was often difficult, with such tests, to examine the small intestine thoroughly. The PillCAM will offer easier, more precise investigation of this, manufacturers and Bons Secours spokespeople say.
It will also eliminate a few procedures to boot: sedation and intubation (the long tube being inserted into the bowel via the rectum to search for inflammation or growths). Insufflation (air/gas being blown into body cavities) won’t be necessary and radiation isn’t involved either.
A pre-treatment appointment with a consultant will often be eliminated as, with the PillCAM, you can be referred directly by your GP for the test. You swallow the camera under hospital supervision, then go about your business for 24 hours.
There are specific laxative and fasting instructions prior to the test, of course, the same as for the traditional colonoscopy. This is in order to clean out the bowel so the camera can see the interior clearly.
High-tech health
After the PillCAM is swallowed, the person wears a sensor waist belt that records the data sent to it by the camera. A specialist downloads the information and views the footage when you return the belt to the clinic the following morning.
The person’s GP will have the results within 72 hours. There’s no need to worry about the camera either. It should pass out of the body naturally within a day or so, according to Medtronic, and doesn’t have to be retained.
The private Bons Secours hospital’s new endoscopy unit opened a year ago and the new Direct Access Endoscopy Service was launched at the same time as this 50-person pilot of PillCAM on 29 August.
Minister for Health Simon Harris TD welcomed the new developments: “The launch of this service demonstrates Bon Secours Health Systems’ commitment to continuously raising levels of access and quality and safety to patients requiring endoscopy procedures.
“This is a very important area of work where I am expecting significant progress in the future, as the implementation of the endoscopy programme will increase capacity and bring benefit to the Irish health service nationwide.”
Bronwyn Brophy, vice president of early technologies EMEA at Medtronic said that the PillCAM capsule range of products has the potential to revolutionise the future of endoscopy procedures, adding that the products could play a major role in improving Irish Healthcare and in reducing waiting lists.
Trial patient Gerry Doran from Dublin, who tried the PillCAM and attended the launch of the pilot scheme, said he liked the simplicity of the procedure. “You get the results in a day – even quicker than blood test results, so you’re not waiting and worrying too long.”
Note: There is no procedure without risk. A rare risk with the pill camera is that it is retained in the body.
Have your say on the future of Ireland’s home-care legislation
Are you using home-care services at the moment? Is someone in your family doing so? Are you involved in care of the elderly, in any way, or in representative organisations? Or are you just a member of the public who would like to make a point about home care legislation and how it should be planned?
Now’s your chance to have a say. You have until 2 October to complete a consultation paper (short or long questionnaire) to make your opinions known before legislation for a new home-care scheme is drafted in this country.
Should people in need of care be able to use equity in their homes to fund extra home care so they can go on living at home rather than go into a nursing home, under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Fair Deal)? How should future home-care schemes be planned? What are the important points that you’d like to make?
While Family Carers Ireland welcomes Minister Harris opening a public consultation on home-care services it is urging that the scope of the legislation be broad.
To take part in the online survey, visit health.gov.ie/consultations and click on these links:
• Improving Home Care Services in Ireland: Have Your Say (Easy read version – for individual responses).• Improving Home Care Services in Ireland: Have Your Say (A more detailed version of the paper if representing organisations).If you have any questions or would like to be sent a copy of the consultation paper, email the Department of Health at homecareconsultation@health.gov.ie; phone (01) 635 4402 or (01) 635 4732; or write to Home Care Consultation, Room 204, Department of Health, Hawkins House, Hawkins Street, Dublin 2, D02 VW90.
The closing date for submissions is 6pm on Monday 2 October 2017. All submissions received will be subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2014 and may be released in response to a Freedom of Information request.
Catherine Cox of Family Carers Ireland
“A statutory entitlement to homecare has been one of the major policy asks of Family Carers Ireland for many years. While we welcome the consultation process as a signal of intent, we are disappointed that the focus of the initial phase of the consultation seems to be on how best to reconfigure and regulate the existing services of home-help and home-care packages.
“While these are important questions, should the consultation remain this narrow it will exclude a variety of other vital supports, such as respite care, aids and appliances, housing adaptation grants and transport.
“We are also concerned that the consultation appears to lean heavily towards older people. It is essential that the needs of those under the age of 65 with disabilities and life-limiting conditions are also addressed.”
“Today, one in 20 people in Ireland is a family carer, providing some €10bn in unpaid care each year. By 2030, demographic changes will require one in five to take on a caring role. It is of paramount importance that where a person is supported to remain at home with the help of a family carer then the carer’s own needs must also be assessed and addressed through a carers’ needs assessment, with resources to support carers to care safely and with dignity at home.
“Regardless of the outcome of this important consultation, existing home-care services remain chronically underfunded. A commitment to significantly increase funding towards home care and respite in Budget 2018 would send the strongest message possible that this government is firmly committed to delivering a fully funded, consistent and equitable system of homecare,” concludes Catherine Cox.
Visit www.familycarers.ie for more information.
CALLING ALL
VOLUNTEERS
THE search is on for Ireland’s best
Do you know someone who does a lot of volunteer work in your community? Volunteer Ireland, the national volunteer development agency and support body is looking for nominations for this competition.
There are 10 different award categories, along with the prestigious Christine Buckley Volunteer of the Year award. The 10 categories are: animals and environment; arts, culture and media; campaigning and awareness raising; children and youth community; safety and emergency services; health and disability, social work and social inclusion; sports and recreation; and outstanding group (of volunteers).
“These awards give us an opportunity to say thank you for volunteers’ remarkable work,” says Nina Arwitz, CE of Volunteer Ireland.
Nominations close at midnight on Friday 6 October and can be made online at www.volunteer.ie with a gala awards ceremony in Sligo on 1 December.
DIARY DATE
There will be a major conference for those with rare sight loss, titled the Retina 2017 conference, to be held at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin.
It will include a patient engagement day to mark World Sight Day and will be hosted by Fighting Blindness Ireland, on Saturday 14 October. Attendees will meet international eye experts
and get an opportunity to ask about cutting-edge research, clinical trials and treatments underway.
Register your
attendance at www.retina.ie or call (01) 678 9004 for further information. Email research@fightingblindness.ie.
This is a subscriber-only article
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