BACKGROUND
In January 2006 Echogenicity limited was founded. We won our first contract in September 2006, to remedy Cornwalls waiting list for echocardiography which was in excess of 18 months.
This contract was successfully completed in March 2007. A second contract was awarded in September 2007 to further reduce the waiting times for echocardiography in Cornwall. This contract was successfully completed in November 2007.
Echogenicity has been providing the GP’s of Cornwall with a community echo service since 2007. We have averaged a two week wait during this time (2007-2020). Working solely within the NHS providing the GP’s and patients within Cornwall with a ‘Gold Standard’ Service, which is efficient, timely and local. Holding clinic’s in 14 different location’s across Cornwall.
During the Covid 19 pandemic we provided an emergency holistic cardiac service for 5 months – solely providing the patient’s and doctor’s of Cornwall with an emergency service in the community; we carried out echocardiograms, ECG’s, BP and a consultant cardiologist opinion as standard,
We continued working as a team with our local DGH and the private hospital for a further two and a half years ensuring that the patients of Cornwall continued to have a cardiac service during the pandemic.
In July 2023 we reverted back to our direct access GP patients. We are working hard to bring our waiting times down. We are currently averaging a 2-4week wait (Feb 2024) for a routine echocardiogram.
We have been running for over 18yrs scanning over 45,000 patients.
THE PRINCIPAL PHYSIOLOGIST
My name is Verity Williams-Curnow. I qualified as a Cardiac Physiologist in September 2000. I spent five years at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust Treliske Hospital, Truro where I completed my training and gained invaluable experience.
I have my British Society of Echocardiography accreditation.
I spent the next two years locuming as a Cardiac Physiologist at the South West Centre of Excellence Derriford Hospital, Plymouth. It was a fantastic experience working in such a large tertiary centre.
For the following two years I worked as a locum Cardiac Physiologist specialising in echocardiography in Morriston Hospital, Swansea again, another large tertiary centre which is very advanced and at the forefront of echocardiography in the UK.
In January 2006, I registered Echogenicity Ltd. with Companies House. We won our first contract in August 2006 with the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust in November 2006. The contract was completed successfully at the end of March 2007. We completed a second waiting list contract to bring waiting times down further.
We have been providing the GPs of Cornwall with a direct access adult echocardiography service since 2007. Between 2007-2020 we averaged a 2 week wait for a routine echocardiogram.
During the Covid 19 pandemic Echogenicity provided emergency/urgent care for Cornwall solely for the first five months of the pandemic, we continued to support the local DGH with urgent care until July 2023.
In July 2023, we reverted back to our direct access routine patients – we are working hard to bring our waiting times down. We are currently averaging a 2-4week wait (February 2024).
