"Is my baby all right?"
"Is my baby all right?" will be the title of a free public health talk to be given later this month by the longest-serving consultant at Colchester General Hospital.
Mr John Eddy, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, will give a 40-minute presentation about routine screening tests during pregnancy, after which he will answer questions.
The talk will take place at Colchester General Hospital on Wednesday 18 November, beginning at 6.30pm, with the whole session scheduled to finish by 8pm at the latest.
Anyone wishing to attend is asked to book a place in advance (see below). Free parking will be available and refreshments provided.
Mr Eddy, who has been a consultant in Colchester for 31 years, will show a video to demonstrate chorionic villus sampling (CVS), a test to check for abnormal chromosomes in an unborn baby and other inherited conditions, such as sickle cell disease.
"We're the only hospital trust in Essex that offers CVS," he said. "The video shows a needle, guided by ultrasound, going through the abdomen to remove a small sample from the placenta.
"The presentation will also include information about the blood tests we carry out and how we use ultrasound to pick up on congenital conditions."
When Mr Eddy first came to Colchester in 1978, ultrasound was still in its infancy and he was the first doctor in the organisation able to use an ultrasound scanner.
Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, which consists of Colchester General Hospital and Essex County Hospital, organises an evening talk every month at which clinical staff speak on a health topic of interest. They are all free and open to members of the public.
The Trust hopes that some of the people who attend will be interested in joining the organisation as public members.
* Anyone interested in attending on 18 November should phone 0845 8734610 Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 5pm to book a place or email ft.membership@colchesterhospital.nhs.uk
Members of the public who are unable to attend but who are still interested in becoming a public member of the Trust can register online by visiting the Trust website: www.colchesterhospital.nhs.uk (look under "Hot Topics" on the home page). Alternatively, phone 0800 783 7328 (free of charge) - please leave a message if nobody is available to take your call. The Trust currently has 6,251 public members.
6 November 2009
Download this press release as a pdf (111 kb)
