To bring our patient experience to life, Teesside University Film and TV Production students recently visited South Tyneside IDC to create a short, moving piece titled ‘Missing Connections’.
Using our centre and GE 370 PET-CT scanner, the piece is able to show an elderly man attending a dementia scan appointment. Throughout the film, we witness a sense of anxiety and vulnerability often experienced by patients suffering with dementia. The film beautifully captures the emotional weight of a diagnosis and the importance of compassionate, patient-centred care.
We’d like to thank the talented student team - Anna Latham, Olivia Wilson, Fabian Czulak, Joshua Syms, and Joseph Graham - for capturing such a powerful and empathetic portrayal of the dementia experience.
🎬 Watch the short film “Missing Connections” here.
🎬 Watch the accompanying documentary ‘The Ones We Forgot’ here.
South Tyneside IDC is one of our 16 dedicated dementia friendly centres nationwide. Our environments are carefully designed to be welcoming, calming and accessible for people living with dementia. Key features include:
• Clear signage and wayfinding
• Flexible appointment scheduling
• Supportive chaperone services
• Quiet areas for conversations
• Natural lighting, plants, and warm décor
• Accessible bathrooms and labelled taps
• Comfortable seating options and refreshments
Everything is built around the principle of supporting patient independence and wellbeing at every stage of the diagnostic journey.
approach, delivering a reassuring experience for patients during this emotional time.
As we approach our two-year anniversary at South Tyneside, we’re reflecting on the vital role we play in transforming patient outcomes across the Northeast.This £10 million centre in South Shields is home to the Trust’s first permanent PET-CT scanner, an advanced GE digital PET-CT. Our teams have significantly improved patient pathways and wait times, with key outcomes including:
• Reducing the PET-CT backlog within weeks of our new service opening, and improving turnaround times to 2–3 days.
• Digital integration of record systems allowing swift referrals and joint access to reports, to achieve a ‘less than 7 day’ timeframe from booking to report being available.
We have now delivered over 50,000 scans, with tens of thousands of patients benefiting from improved access to diagnostic imaging, receiving vital cancer and dementia scans closer to home - without the need to travel to Newcastle or Middlesbrough.
🔗 Find out more about the services offered at South Tyneside.
🧡 Learn more about our national PET-CT services.
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