Norwich – well worth the trip!

I’m writing this blog sitting on a train in Norwich train station, having just attended the BNMS Autumn Meeting. I’ve never been here before – it’s quite a long way from the Midlands, where I live and work. However, one of the nice things about the Autumn meetings is that it offers the opportunity to visit somewhere new, and I’m so glad I’ve had this chance to visit. Before I tell you about the fantastic meeting we’ve just had, I’d like to pass on a few facts about Norwich which I found interesting. Firstly, back in medieval times, Norwich was actually the second biggest city in the country, second only to London. Immigrants came from all over the place to work in the city’s wool and weaving industries. And it still remains the only English city to be located in a national park – for those of you who haven’t been, the Norfolk Broads is designated an Area of Outstanding Beauty. 125 miles of navigable lock-free waterways wind their way through beautiful countryside and pretty towns and villages. It’s also mentioned in David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’, just FYI. And who can resist anything with a link to him? (not me!)

Other claims to fame – Norwich was the first town to have a pedestrianised street (this happened back in July 1967) and was the first place to have postcodes. Another interesting fact for some may be that Norwich at one time had a pub for every day of the year x (almost) 2, so you could literally go to a different one every night for quite a long time, if you so wished. However, many were closed in the 1960s, which saw King Street go from a staggering 58 pubs to just one. This pub remains today – aptly called the Last Pub Standing.

Famous people from Norwich include Alan Partridge (OK, he’s not a real person, but bear with me), Jeremiah James Colman (better known for making a famous brand of mustard), and who can forget the great Delia Smith whose now famous half time  ‘Let’s be havin’ you’ speech in the 2005 Premier League clash against Manchester City surely had them quaking in their boots, and at the very least helped put Norwich football club on the map (although another interesting Norwich fact - Norwich FC has the oldest football song, written in 1890) . But in my book, her recipes probably outshine the football – especially the Christmas ones!

Anyway, back to the BNMS. Our meeting was held at the beautiful Norwich Assembly Rooms and was jointly organised by Cambridge and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals. The venue is one of the most glorious examples of Georgian assembly rooms architecture in the country. It is a grade 1 listed building, originally the site of a 13^th century hospital and secular college and church for priests. In 1544 the college closed when Henry VIII ran rampage through the country’s monasteries and the building were subsequently surrendered to the crown. Following that, much demolishing took place (he was a destructive lad, was Henry), but eventually the house was renovated and converted to ultimately become the Assembly House we were lucky enough to spend today in.

As we have started to do in recent years, we held a welcome event the evening before the meeting. This is something I really like – it is just so nice to have that little bit of extra time to spend with people who you may not have seen for a while as well as to meet new people. It also helps if you are travelling a bit further. We had a couple of speakers before dinner on a subject close to my heart – sustainability. Erika Denton, who I’m sure many of you will know of, gave an excellent talk in her capacity as National Medical Director for Transformation at NHS England and lead for The Greener NHS. She was followed by Gerry Lowe, of East and North Hertfordshire and Mark Cracknell of the Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, who gave a thought provoking talk about the carbon footprint of PET. All highlighted travel as the biggest contributor to the size of our carbon footprint, not surprisingly, but it was also interesting to hear the part played by our equipment, including when it is idle. It’s definitely worth checking whether your piece of kit needs to be on all the time - it’s not always the case. As someone working in Radiopharmacy, I do find the number of single use items a cause of concern. Of course, many things must be single use, but not everything needs to be. There are a lot of unseen factors – often upstream - which influence our overall carbon footprint.

That was followed by a lovely meal and even nicer company. Not a bad way to spend a Monday evening.

The next day was the meeting proper and there really was a great varied menu to choose from. For our first Plenary session, we had what can only be described as a stunning talk from an esteemed Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, Elisabeth De Vries. Elisabeth spoke about the role that molecular imaging can play in supporting drug development and patient selection for cancer medicines. One of the slides in particular was very thought provoking – it was around breast cancers which may not be visualised using the usual imaging routes, but which can be seen with some types of PET imaging (non FDG).

As many of you will be aware, a subject close to my heart is dementia and we had a wonderful talk about PET amyloid imaging in Alzheimer’s. This highlighted how key early diagnosis is, although currently not all treatments have approval. I know first-hand how challenging it can be to get any investigations at all for a loved one who you suspect may be developing dementia. My sister was asked what we hoped to achieve by getting a dementia diagnosis by my mum’s GP, for goodness sake. Needless to say, he didn’t remain her GP for much longer. So anything which helps people early on in their journey, especially if it leads to something which could slow down the progression of their disease is important.

Another aspect I enjoyed were the talks from healthcare professionals outside of the immediate world of Nuclear Medicine, such as the talk from a Medical Oncologist about radionuclide therapy which added another perspective to this important subject.

I never cease to be impressed by the problem-solving brains of our physicists and the talk on Pituitary Phantom and Optimisation of PET by Daniel Gillet from Cambridge was no exception. Unfortunately, this clashed with the presentation by Rita Pereira and Deborah Burgess on their Technologist-led Stress service, which is a shame as extended roles for Technologists and Radiographers is something I am a keen advocate of.  I also have to mention Busola Ade-Ojo’s talk on challenges in Radiopharmacy. As a Radiopharmacist myself, I was pleased to see this given a focus in the meeting.

Our final Plenary session was delivered by our very own John Buscombe as he took us with him on a Theranostics journey from Saul Hertz to PSMA like no-one else can. He is a great story teller, and really brought the subject to life. He ended with a slide showing photos of a number of pioneers of Theranostics. I noticed that his picture was not included (something commented on by someone else too, and why he typically brushed aside), but having worked with John many years ago, I know for a fact that many Nuclear Medicine departments and their patients across the world owe a lot to him as a supporter and advocate for Theranostics and Molecular Radiotherapy as he helped them set up their services.

So, as you can hopefully see, there was a little something for everyone and it’s been an absolutely great day. If you can, please try to join us in Glasgow for the Spring meeting from 19^th – 21^st May next year, or the next Autumn meeting, which will be held in London (details to be confirmed).

I have to finish by saying a few words of thanks. The local organising committees always put so much into making this a great day for all, and we owe our sincere appreciation to Clare Beadsmoore, Luigi Aloj, Ferdia Gallagher and Matthew Gray and the rest of the organising committee below for all the hard work they have put into this event.  Until next time.

Ms Jilly Croasdale

BNMS President

Organising Committee:

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:

Clare Beadsmoore, Radiologist

Matthew Gray, Clinical Scientist

Cambridge University Hospitals NHs Foundation Trust:

Luigi Aloj, Physician

HK Cheow, Physician

Ferdia Gallagher, Radiologist

Daniel Gillett, Clinical Scientist

Ines Harper, Radiologist

Sarah Heard, Clinical Scientist

Helen Mason, Radiographer

Iosif Mendichovszky, Radiologist

Busola Ade-Ojo, Radiopharmacist