How Your Support is Helping NHS Lothian Bring Advanced Diagnostics to Outpatient Care

Accurate bowel screening is essential for detecting serious conditions early. Yet many people feel anxious or embarrassed about these tests, with some even avoiding them altogether. But these screenings can be life-saving, so reducing obstacles that make the experience challenging is key to helping more people get the right care at the right time.

Thanks to your generous support, the Colorectal Unit at Western General Hospital has introduced the Lumeneye System into outpatient clinics. This innovative device provides high-definition imaging on a video screen, replacing uncomfortable rigid scopes and enabling clearer, faster assessments. By making the process quicker and less invasive, Lumeneye is helping reduce the need for repeat appointments and the additional waiting time for results that those extra appointments create.

Mr Peter Vaughan-Shaw, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at the Western General Hospital, explains:

It feels cliché to say that the difference is in the detail, but that’s the crux of it really. Lumeneye’s HD camera gives clinicians a much clearer view of the rectum, whereas traditional bowel screening methods meant clinicians had to peer through the narrow lens of an uncomfortable, rigid scope and work at weird angles with limited views. This better visualisation means clearer, faster assessments which means fewer repeat appointments for patients and a faster turnaround for results. We can now accurately sample abnormal areas of the rectum whereas before this was almost impossible.”

Towards a More Comfortable Pathway

Peter goes on to say:

The clearer visuals that Lumeneye provides have delivered immediate benefits for patients, and there’s potential to build on that further. For example, right now patients have to come into hospital for lengthy appointments where they drink unpleasant bowel prep medication, wait for it to work, and then go into their camera appointment. With Lumeneye, we can explore a model where patients use a suppository at home to clear their bowel, attend a short clinic visit, then head straight home. It’s a far better pathway for patients and also eases pressure on busy endoscopy services. Plus, staff gain new skills and confidence using the system, all of which adds up to better care for patients, which is always our goal.”

Beyond Outpatient Care

Innovation with Lumeneye isn’t limited to outpatient care; its impact is already reaching other areas and has potential to support further. Peter highlights the wider impact:

Lumeneye is also proving useful in theatre. Surgeons now use it to check surgical the level of bowel tumours and joins in the bowel during operations, even integrating its video feed with robotic surgery systems for a more comprehensive view of the inside of the abdomen and the inside of the rectum. It’s also portable so takes up much less room in an already crowded theatre space. It’s a practical example of how innovation can ripple through different stages of care.

“A research grant application is also underway to explore expanded use for cancer surveillance and therapeutic options for rectal bleeding. Patient satisfaction will be a key metric in this study because our measure of success is not only clinical outcomes but also how supported and respected patients feel throughout their care.”

But Peter is quick to point out: “Although we’re trying to maximise its use, we are clear that this should not detract from Lumeneye’s primary purpose which is to support the patient pathway in outpatient clinics.”