Dear budding and experienced neuroimagers,

Your colleagues based here in YNiC have worked tirelessly over several months to maintain services, and in the planning of resuming others. This means that alongside the successful implementation of remote data analysis and teaching services, we are now in a position to start allowing access for face-to-face testing at YNiC.

Initially our focus will be on the resumption of MRI scanning, but we are working with the help of numerous colleagues in the department to hopefully allow access to MEG and TMS soon. I'm sure you will appreciate that there are not only administrative barriers to overcome, but also practical ones including training of users of the centre to ensure that services are resumed safely and in accordance with covid-19 guidelines and protocols. We thank you for your patience.

Access to MRI scanning: making a start

Initially we will focus on delivering safe MRI scanning by using only YNiC core staff as MRI operators. We are currently focusing on making sure that our core staff MRI operators are up to speed and comfortable with the procedures. We hope to have all their training and certification in place by Wednesday the 21st of October. Once we have a better handle on how operating safely is going, we hope to be able to roll out the additional training and certification to currently qualified YNiC MRI operators.

We would like to invite investigators who have an immediate interest in resuming MRI scanning to visit, by appointment only, the centre on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 October (next week).  This may seem counter-intuitive in light of social distancing guidelines but we think it is important for people to attend the centre first-hand to see what the practical limitations of operating the scanner, participant preparation and operation of stimulus equipment will be. We will advise on additional screening forms that need to be completed and procedures that need to be carried out. We do not mind doing multiple “tours” for larger labs as we will need to restrict the number of investigators per appointment to two persons. Please email support@ynic.york.ac.uk to schedule an appointment.

Off the back of these visits on 22/23 October,we hope to be able to book investigators in for a scanning session from the week commencing Mon 26th of October - it may be best to think of this as a “pilot” session initially. This will allow us all to get a better understanding of what the limitations are likely to be and help us all get set up for increased volumes of scanning later in the term. 

NOTE THAT IN ADDITION TO THE YNIC FORMS, THERE IS A SEPARATE FACE TO FACE TESTING RISK REGISTER / ASSESSMENT DOCUMENT PROVIDED BY PSYCHOLOGY THAT NEEDS TO BE COMPLETED BY INVESTIGATORS AND SIGNED OFF BY THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT BEFORE SCANNING AT YNIC CAN RESUME.

Lisa Henderson should be able to advise and point you to the current version of this document.

I am sure you are all keen to get scanning, but I must make an appeal to all users. Although it may seem that we are offering relatively few operator hours in initial weeks please bear with us as we build the service back up. Many of you will know that there have been significant changes in the staffing at YNiC and that means that we are still finding our feet and balancing the resources to help you as best we can. Please remember that there is still a huge amount of effort going on behind the scenes to support non-scanning activity.

Finally - a phenomenal amount of work has been put into planning resumption of scanning activities at YNiC and I want to thank you all for helping us to get going again - a special mention must be given to Tony Morland who heroically spent the last months of his term as director of YNiC doing the lion’s share of the crucial (but grueling) administrative and H&S work that underpins the resumption of services.

We look forward to welcoming you all back into the centre, in a safe and incremental way.

Best wishes,