Nigel Beeton retires from West Suffolk Hospital after 40-year career in the NHS

Nigel Beeton, imaging services manager at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT), retired last week after more than 40 years’ service in the NHS.

However, his legacy will continue as one of the Trust’s accommodation blocks bears his name: Beeton House.

During his career at WSFT Nigel managed the radiology (X-ray, CT, MRI, nuclear medicine, ultrasound and breast imaging), clinical photography and endoscopy departments for 20 years. He joined the trust in 1983 on an 18-month contract, met his future wife Carol and remained ever since.

Nigel began his NHS career in 1978, and as a radiographer experienced the transformation of medical imaging and diagnosis.

“On my desk I have some of the equipment I used 40 years ago – a different world,” he said.

“There was a lot more maths to be done in your head, as we used film that had to be exposed and hung up in a drying cabinet. Then machines were developed that could give us a dry X-ray in 90 seconds – this was unheard of.”

The work involved doing everything manually, storing X-rays in extensive libraries.

“Often there was just one image, so it was a major issue to make sure you did not lose them,” said Nigel.

He recalled being allowed to see the first CT scanner, made by EMI, in London in 1980. This could deliver a head scan in about an hour, something that can now be done in less than a minute.

“The underlying revolution has been IT,” said Nigel.

“I was a bit of a computer nerd and used to programme them with punched tape. In a way I have grown up with computer technology.”

The 1990s saw the first CT scanner at the West Suffolk, which required a computer that filled a room, and discs the size of dinner plates.

“It was pretty slow,” said Nigel.

“A head scan took about 15 minutes and body scans had to be done sequentially. But of course it was much quicker than what we had before and allowed us to work in a different way.”

Since the late 1990s the service has had access to the detailed images provided by MRI scanners, while portable X-ray machines still provide useful diagnostic tools.

As a radiographer, Nigel explained he had completed professional training to obtain the most accurate images while keeping patients safe from radiation or other harm and working closely with radiologists, the medically qualified doctors who make the diagnoses.

Nigel has also been managing the endoscopy and photography departments, which he describes as a completely different environment with its own team of clinicians.

Nigel will be returning to the trust part-time as a directorate support manager, overseeing projects; and nationally he is involved in the UK accreditation service (UKAS) for radiology standards.

Steve Dunn, chief executive, said: “Nigel has given more than 40 years of dedicated service to the NHS and his contribution to our trust has helped us transform the care we give our patients.

“We shall miss Nigel but are delighted he is coming back in a different capacity that will make good use of his extensive experience and knowledge.”

Among the hobbies Nigel looks forward to pursuing are family history, astronomy, miniatures and his lifelong love of trains, fostered by his father during his Buckinghamshire childhood.