We’re delighted to have committed to fund the creation of a new Centre of Excellence for CT Colonography training in Dundee, in what we hope will be the first such centre in Scotland.

CT Colonography (CTC) uses a CT scanner to examine the colon, to detect early signs of bowel cancer. However it became clear that there were significant variations in how screening was performed across the UK, and associated scans interpreted. To tackle this, 40tude provided seed funding to establish a CTC training and accreditation programme, with the aim of improving and standardising CTC training within the NHS and beyond.  

Initially devised by an inspiring team at St. Mark’s, this new initiative was a great success and despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, more than 70 radiologists and radiographers received high-quality training during the initial phase. The success of this pilot project has since led to the roll-out of the training and accreditation programme on a national basis, with seven regional Centres of Excellence established across England.
 
Given 40tude’s significant connections with Scotland, we are very pleased to now be enabling the expansion of this initiative north of the border.  40tude has recently agreed to support the creation of Scotland’s first Centre of Excellence, at Stracathro Hospital.  It is hoped that the success of this pilot programme will enable additional such centres to be established throughout Scotland in the near future, increasing the availability of high-quality bowel screening and, as a result, improving the early detection rates of this preventable disease.
 
“This expansion of the proven CTC training scheme into Scotland, funded by 40tude, is genuinely exciting,” adds founding Programme Co-Director, David Burling. “It builds on so much of what 40tude has achieved in the CTC field over the last 10 years.  There is no doubt that without 40tude’s persistence and funding, the training would not have been deployed in Scotland for the foreseeable future.“