New scanners brought in to Shropshire hospitals as staff tackle patient backlog
New scanners have been brought in to Shropshire's major hospitals to help clear the backlog of patients on routine waiting lists.
It comes as The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust continues its work to restore services following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A mobile MRI scanner was put in place at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on Monday and will remain there for three months.
On the same day, Telford's Princess Royal Hospital was given a mobile CT scanner, which is expected to be in use until next year.
Another mobile MRI scanner will be put in place at PRH from November for a period of three months.
The trust says it is also looking at further ways to increase capacity for scanning over the coming months.
And it hopes to secure funding for further permanent CT and MRI units, which would come into service in the new year.
As well as bringing new facilities to the county's hospitals to provide better care during the winter, the additional scanners will allow patients from the trust’s routine waiting list to be scanned.
Nigel Lee, chief operating officer at SaTH, said: “Over the last few months we have had to make significant changes to the way we work in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the temporary suspension of routine radiology services.
“The addition of these new scanners will allow us to see many more people from our routine waiting lists which include ultrasound, CT and MRI scans as well as x-rays.
"This will help us to clear our backlog and return to the high performance we were achieving before the pandemic."
To further speed up the recovery process of radiology services, SaTH is also working with partners to provide additional appointment capacity.
This may mean some people receive appointments to attend for CT and MRI scans, as well as chest x-rays, at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital near Oswestry.
Wait
Patients are encouraged to accept these appointments as they may mean they are seen sooner than if they were to wait for an appointment at either RSH or PRH.
It was recently announced that, in addition to the new scanning facilities, SaTH has been awarded £6.3 million by the Government to help prepare for winter.
This funding will be used to create a new same day emergency care centre at RSH to help ease pressure on its A&E, and reduce hospital admissions.
