Wet weather hold-up as MRI scanner lifted into Telford's Princess Royal Hospital

A crane lifted the state-of-the-art scanner into place on Sunday, as part of a £1.7 million investment.

There was a slight delay due to the wet and windy weather, but the scanner is now in place and is expected to be fully operational next month.

Glen Whitehouse, radiology centre manager at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: “The MRI scanner was successfully lowered into place at the Princess Royal Hospital on Sunday despite the weather, which caused a slight delay as we had to wait for the wind to die down.

“The scanner is now being installed by the Siemens team and once checks and training have been completed, it is expected to be fully operational next month.

"This a fantastic investment for our patients who will benefit from the most up to date technology available, as the new scanner will provide more advanced and higher quality images, and improve patient experience.”

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a type of scan that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body.

The results of an MRI scan can be used to help diagnose conditions, plan treatments and assess how effective previous treatment has been.

A 230ft crane was used to remove the old scanner at PRH on July 9 and the same crane was used to install the new scanner on Sunday.

The trust replaced its two existing MRI scanners, one of which is at PRH with the other at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, as part of a £1.7million investment during 2017/18.

A new MRI scanner is also due to be installed at RSH by the end of March 2018 thanks to funding by the league of friends of the RSH, increasing the number of MRI scanners at the trust to three.

Health officials said this will allow more patients to be seen.

Ahead of the move two mobile MRI scanners were installed – one at RSH and one at PRH.

The RSH one has been in place for a number of weeks to help reduce waiting times from referral to having an MRI scan from six weeks to one week. The national target is six weeks.

RSH’s replacement scanner will be installed later in the year and be in use by Christmas 2017.