Nuclear scans and tests

Our nuclear medicine departments have a range of equipment which help us to diagnose heart and lung conditions more quickly. As well as high-techNuclear medicine image machines, we spread our expertise, care and attention across two sites: Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals.

The nuclear scan

A nuclear scan is a way of taking images of your body. Before we can take these images, we need to give you an injection, called a tracer. Tracers contain a small amount of radioactivity in them which allows us to highlight the parts of the body we need to see in more detail. 

Risks

Most medical procedures and tests have some level of risk, but it's important to know that we wouldn't recommend a procedure/test if we the benefits didn't outweigh any potential risks to your health. 

Particular risk

Female patients

If you are pregnant, or think you might be, please tell us before your scan. Even small amounts of radiation can harm unborn babies. 

If you are breastfeeding, you can still have the scan but please contact us for advice before you come in. 

Find out more about our other heart and lung assessments.

Where to go for your scan

Types of scans and tests

At Harefield Hospital, we use state-of-the-art equipment to carry out a number of tests and scans which look at the lungs, heart and other parts of the body to see if they are functioning properly. These include: 

    Heart

    Lung

    Other areas

    The results

    Your scan results will be interpreted by an experienced nuclear medicine physician and will be sent to your referring specialist. You can consult your specialist doctor to plan further treatment. 

    Nuclear medicine department

    A range of healthcare professionals look after you when you come to Harefield Hospital for a scan or test. These include:

    Getting to Harefield

    Find out how to get to us at Harefield. Once there, you'll find the nuclear medicine department in the ANZAC Centre. When you arrive, it is 30 metres straight ahead of you. Here, you can report to a reception window in the nuclear medicine waiting area, but if you do need any help, just ask at main reception. 

    Types of scans and tests

    At Royal Brompton, we use state-of-the-art equipment to carry out a number of tests and scans which look at the lungs, heart and other parts of the body to see if they are functioning properly. These include: 

    Heart

    Lung

    Other areas

    You may be invited for any type of test but they can all be done on an outpatient basis, so you don't need to stay overnight. The length of the test can vary between 1-4 hours, depending on the test. 

    The results

    Your scan results will be interpreted by an experienced nuclear medicine physician and will be sent to your referring specialist. You can consult your specialist doctor to plan further treatment. 

    Nuclear medicine department

    A range of healthcare professionals look after you when you come to Royal Brompton Hospital for a scan or test. These include:

    • Dr Kshama Wechalekar, consultant nuclear physician, head of department
    • Professor Richard Underwood, professor of cardiac imaging 
    • Tiago Sousa, superintendent technologist
    • Samantha Cliffe, lead clinical nurse specialist
    • Lucy Hossen, lead physicist
    • Bill Hartigan, office manager 

    Getting to Royal Brompton

    Find out how to get to us at Royal Brompton. Once there, you'll find the nuclear medicine department in the Chelsea wing of the hospital. Please come in through the main Sydney Street entrance. 

    Chelsea wing is connected to the main Sydney Street building by a bridge. It's a five-minute walk from reception to the department and you will need to take the lift to level three and follow the signs. If you have any problems, just ask someone, or speak to someone at main reception. they can arrange for a porter to help you to the department if you need it. 

    The nuclear medicine department itself cannot arrange transport. If you think you need transport for medical reasons, speak to your GP who can arrange it with the Royal Brompton transport department on 0207 351 8012. 

    Nuclear medicine research

    We perform more than 5,000 studies in the fields of nuclear cardiology and myocardial perfusion imaging, and more. Find out more about our research

    Information for referrers

    You can refer patients to Royal Brompton Hospital or Harefield Hospital by following the process below. We offer appointments with a medical referral for a wide range of tests and scans at both of our sites.

    Internal referrers

    All nuclear medicine investigations must be requested via ICE e-requesting. There are separate tabs for Royal Brompton Hospital and Harefield Hospital on ICE. Please give us as much relevant information as you can on the request form, this will help us to give you more useful reports. Please do not forget to tell us how urgent the test is by ticking the relevant priority box.

    If you have any questions about submitting a request, please contact us on one of the numbers below:

    • Royal Brompton Hospital (ext. 88666)
    • Harefield Hospital (ext. 85880)

    External referrers

    Doctors can submit a patient referral directly to the nuclear medicine department via email or post (see below for more information on how to do this). On receipt of the referral we will contact the patient to arrange an appointment. Please note, we require a medical doctor to sign the letter for all diagnostic tests, as per IR(MER) regulations for all tests that involve radiation. Please click here to access the referral criteria for the department of nuclear medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital

    Once the patient has accepted their appointment, a letter or an email with details of the appointment is sent to them. This will include a patient information leaflet which will explain the procedure and what they may need to do to prepare for a test or scan.

    Contact us to refer a patient

    By email

    Doctors can submit a patient referral via e-mail. This is the recommended method of referring a patient to us. E-mail referrals will only be accepted if they are sent from the referring doctor’s nhs.net account to our nhs.net account shown below. We recommend referrers to use our request form, to which they can attach a signed clinic letter, should they choose to. 

    Request form for Royal Brompton Hospital  
    Request form for Harefield Hospital  

    If providing a typed letter of referral, referrers must provide the following details of the referred patient:

    1. Name, date of birth, address and NHS number
    2. Telephone number and email
    3. Relevant clinical details, medication etc.
    4. Type of test needed
    5. Signature of the doctor (scanned and emailed)

    Patient referrals for Royal Brompton Hospital should be emailed to: rbh-tr.rbhnmreferrals@nhs.net

    Patient referrals for Harefield Hospital should be emailed to: rbh-tr.nuclearmedicinereferrals@nhs.net

    By post

    Referral letters sent by post must also include the following details of the referred patient:

    1. Name, date of birth, address and NHS number
    2. Telephone number and email
    3. Relevant clinical details, medication etc.
    4. Type of test needed
    5. Signature of the doctor

    Referral letters must also state the urgency of the investigation e.g. urgent, within six months etc. and include any clinic letters that may be relevant.

    Referral letters for Royal Brompton Hospital should be addressed to: 

    Dr Kshama Wechalekar
    Department of Nuclear medicine
    Royal Brompton Hospital
    Sydney street, London
    SW3 6NP

    Referral letters for Harefield Hospital should be addressed to: 

    Prof. Richard Underwood or Dr. Georgia Keramida
    Department of Nuclear Medicine
    Harefield Hospital
    Ground Floor Anzac Centre Building
    Hill End Road, Uxbridge
    UB9 6JH

    Contact us

     

    Royal Brompton Hospital

    Harefield Hospital

    Phone

    +44 (0)20 7351 8666/9

    +44 (0)1895828880

    E-mail

    rbh-tr.rbhnmreferrals@nhs.net

    rbh-tr.nuclearmedicinereferrals@nhs.net

    Address

    Department of Nuclear medicine, RBH, Sydney street, SW3 6NP

    Department of Nuclear Medicine, Harefield Hospital, Ground Floor Anzac Centre Building, Hill End Road, Harefield, UB9 6JH

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