"MRI scanner experience/suggestion"

A friend has asked me to post this on her behalf.

She recently had an MRI scan (or may have been CT) at Peterborough City Hospital. Although she had no complaints she wanted to pass on some ideas about how the experience could have been much better for her.

She is in her 50s and has mild claustrophobia, so being in a scanner for any length of time is a little traumatic. She went to have the scan and mentioned this to the assistant/radiologist, who said 'ah well not to worry it will soon be over, and put her into the scanner, where she lay terrified for the next 40 minutes as the machine whirred around her. She was very relieved to get out.

My friend might have thought no more about this, except for the fact that she also had an MRI scan at a private hospital a few years ago. She said the BIG difference was that they talked to her every few minutes through the intercom connected to the scanner and it made a huge difference to how she felt when she was in there - she was much more reassured.

Apparently the Peterborough machines also have these intercoms, so her point is why don't staff do the same thing there? This would be a change of practice that would cost no money but could potentially make all the difference to some quite frightened patients. Just a suggestion!