NEW equipment for examining the liver and pancreas has been provided for the Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH).

The trust’s League of Friends charity has bought two specialist duodenoscopes costing £68,000 to improve services for patients visiting the endoscopy department.

The department’s previous equipment was becoming old and required downtime for repairs to be made.

Consultant gastroenterologist Dr Charlie Gordon said his team were delighted with the new duodenoscopes.

“We take referrals from inside the Royal Bournemouth Hospital as well as Poole and Dorchester hospitals, so the equipment was well used and we kept having to send it for repair,” he said.

“The new equipment will allow the department to continue this vital service without interruption.

“We are so grateful to the League of Friends for donating us the new scopes as we wouldn’t have been able to afford them without their help.”

Duodenoscopes are long, flexible viewing instruments around the same thickness as a pen that can be threaded through the mouth, throat, and stomach into the top of the small intestine (duodenum).

They are used to perform ERCP or endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography - a procedure used to examine diseases of the liver, bile ducts, and pancreas. It is the least invasive way of investigating these organs.

These procedures are often emergency treatments and allow the removal of potentially fatal stones, or other obstructions, from a patient’s bile duct.

The new duodenoscopes were purchased bought with funds raised by the League of Friends’ 200 members through their charity shop in the RBH atrium, coffee mornings and legacies.

Chairman Rosie Havers said: “I’m so proud of the League of Friends’ volunteers who have worked so hard to make the donation of duodenoscopes possible.

“We are so pleased patients will benefit directly from the equipment - the sooner investigations with the duodenoscopes take place the sooner any abnormalities can be spotted and treated.

“It is exciting to think the new equipment will improve outcomes for patients and even help save lives.”