Over 200 pupils aged 14 to 17 toured MRI, ultrasound and radiotherapy stations at Queen's Hospital on 6 November. What they saw, and why the trust ran it.

More than 200 secondary school pupils spent Friday 6 November inside Queen’s Hospital in Romford, learning how nuclear medicine, MRI scanning and the hospital’s plans for major incidents actually work.

Queen’s is run by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, the trust on Brentwood’s western border that also runs King George Hospital. The trust ran the day for International Day of Medical Physics, which falls on 7 November, in the hope that some of the pupils will go on to careers in healthcare science.

Who came, and what they did

The invitation went to schools across Havering, Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge, the three boroughs the trust serves. The pupils were aged 14 to 17, and the trust says the groups included students studying A-level physics. Brentwood schools were not among those invited this time.

Working in groups, the pupils moved round a series of stations, each showing a different branch of medical physics, among them radiotherapy physics and ultrasound.

Pupils in school uniform gather round a table with a protective apron, printed scan images and green cards on a black board, as a member of hospital staff talks them through it
Pupils at one of the stations, with a protective apron and printed scan images laid out on the table. Photo: supplied by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

“A lot of what we do is behind the scenes”

Keeley Thwaites, the trust’s Lead Healthcare Scientist, said the point was to show teenagers a side of the hospital that patients rarely see:

“A lot of what we do is behind the scenes, so we really wanted to bring the students in and get them engaging with interactive stations to learn more about what we do, and the wide variety of careers there are in medical physics.

“It was also a chance for them to learn more about what happens when you have an ultrasound, X-ray or other scan.”

The MRI station used a home-made cardboard scanner and posters explaining the loud noise and long scan times patients can expect. At the ultrasound station, pupils watched a live image on a working scanner.

A member of hospital staff demonstrates an ultrasound machine to pupils in school uniform, with a scan image on the monitor
Pupils watch an ultrasound demonstration, with the scan image on the monitor. Photo: supplied by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

What it means for you

If you are in Brentwood, Shenfield or Ingatestone and have been sent to Queen’s for an MRI, an ultrasound or an X-ray, these are the people behind that equipment: medical physicists and healthcare scientists, whose work, in the trust’s words, is mostly “behind the scenes”.

For a teenager in Brentwood weighing up A-level physics, the day is a reminder that the subject leads into hospital work as well as labs and engineering. The trust posts news and careers information at bhrhospitals.nhs.uk.

Earlier this autumn the same trust ran ten joint replacements in one day at King George Hospital.