OO's tumour case makes NHS exhibition

Ms Keith, a local government officer from Faversham, Kent, visited her optometrist in Canterbury after a week of severe headaches and vision impairment in January. Optometrist Ann Tonkin carried out an eye examination, and, following consultation with her colleague about an abnormality she detected, referred Ms Keith to Kent and Canterbury Hospital for a brain scan. The scan found a tumour a little larger than a tangerine and Ms Keith was immediately transferred to King's College Hospital, London. She was operated on three days after the eye examination. 'The tumour was benign and she continues to make a good recovery,' said Ms Tonkin. 'I know all the details because three months after the operation Suzanne turned up with a bottle of champagne and took me to lunch.' A graphic record of Ms Keith's NHS surgery to remove a brain tumour, shot by Bosnian War photographer Roger Hutchings, is now touring the country as part of a national exhibition with six other illustrative 'stories' of health service care to celebrate 50 years of the NHS. Ms Tonkin will attend the Sheffield leg of the exhibition, called 'NHS Now...Towards the Future'. The photographs, shown at the NHS Conference in London earlier this month, are now at Trafford General Hospital until July 22. Other tour dates are: Northern General Hospital, Sheffield (July 25-August 13); University Hospital Wales, Cardiff (August 16-September 2); Royal Sussex Hospital, Brighton (September 5-23); St Thomas' Hospital, London (September 26-October 13); Antrim Hospital, Antrim (October 17-November 1); Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (November 5-8); Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle (November 21-December 6); Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds (December 9-January 3, 1999).