Last week we welcomed a Disney production team who came to film a short video on the positive impact the Philips and Disney Ambient Experience has had on paediatric patients coming for MRI scans at CRH.

The Ambient Experience is a piece of software built into the Philips MRI scanners which is designed to distract children so that it is easier to obtain suitable MRI scans and gives children a more positive experience. The software features mood lighting which can be changed to any colour, dimmed or brightened to suit the patients preference. Our Charity helped fund the Ambient Experience scanner and we've been using it at CRH for a few years.

Disney characters have been added into the Ambient Experience software, meaning that children having an MRI scan can now watch their favourite characters on a screen whilst their scan is being taken. CHFT is the first Trust in the UK to have the Philips and Disney Ambient Experience.

This software is having a fantastic impact on our radiology service - helping to reduce the need for general anaesthetic use which contributes to an all-round better experience for our patients, their families and our colleagues. Data from audits has shown that distraction techniques like this have a 97% success rate in helping our radiologists acquire suitable MRI imaging.

Radiologist, Alison Lord, was interviewed by Disney to share her experience working with the system. She said: "You need to be perfectly still for an MRI image to come out well. As much as we can we like to create a really calm environment for children to come into. 

"We have huge success with this and our general anaesthetic rate has come right down."

Thank you to our Radiology team for helping with this filming and sharing how the experience has helped our patients.