State-of-the-art endoscopy centre opens at Quadram Institute

8th December 2018

One of Europe’s largest endoscopy centres will open to its first patients.

The Gastroenterology department at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) has moved some of its services to the state-of-the-art Quadram Institute and welcomes its first patients on Monday 10th December.

The multi-million pound facility on Norwich Research Park will be home to a range of endoscopy and bowel cancer screening services. The NNUH Gastroenterology department at Quadram Institute will be able to conduct at least 40,000 procedures a year in the facility, making it one of the largest endoscopy centres in Europe, as part of its expansion of services.

Dr Simon Rushbrook, the clinical lead for Gastroenterology at NNUH said: “We are delighted to be moving into this fantastic new building and we are really excited to be starting our endoscopic service in this state-of-the-art building.”

Dr Rushbrook noted how the Quadram Institute is a unique institution saying, “By bringing together a busy NHS department with scientists and researchers in a ground-breaking collaboration, this puts our department at the forefront of endoscopy services and increases capacity. It will result in quicker access to endoscopic diagnostics for patients and rapid access for the diagnosis or exclusion of gastrointestinal cancer.”

The Quadram Institute’s mission is to develop solutions to worldwide challenges in human health, food and disease. It has been created by four founding partners – the NNUH, University of East Anglia, Quadram Institute Bioscience and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) – to work across four research themes: the gut, healthy ageing, food innovation and food safety.

Mark Davies, Chief Executive of NNUH, said: “I’d like to congratulate everyone at NNUH involved in this project and their hard work. The Quadram Institute is an incredible building and we are looking forward to welcoming our first patients to the new endoscopy centre. “

The 10 room endoscopy centre at the Quadram Institute will be run under a managed service agreement between NNUH and Genmed, working in partnership with Olympus to provide the latest medical devices, which includes all endoscopes and associated equipment. In addition, a seven year maintenance agreement has been agreed by the three parties. The maintenance agreement, fulfilled by Olympus, will ensure that the equipment will always be in peak condition and available for clinical use.