MRI scanner to remain at Downe for nine weeks

MRI scanner to remain at Downe for nine weeks

13 February 2019

A MOBILE MRI scanner at the Downe Hospital will only be in place until early April, health chiefs have confirmed.

The South Eastern Trust has revealed that the scanner arrived at the Downpatrick hospital at the start of this month and is to remain in place for around nine weeks.

Health officials said the arrival of the scanner is part of a “contingency measure” to maintain a service provision during the replacement of an MRI system at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.

They have explained the scanner — which takes detailed images of the inside of the body — will help ensure that delays in patient appointments can be avoided.

Over recent months, politicians and health campaigners have highlighted the need for a purpose-built MRI suite at the Downpatrick hospital, with health officials agreeing that such a facility would be a real asset to the hospital.

They say it would ensure that additional MR imaging capacity was available locally to facilitate increased demand in this area of imaging. 

A South Eastern Trust spokeswoman confirmed that the organisation was currently in the process of making a case to the Department of Health to provide a permanent MRI scanner in the Downe.

She added: “Obviously, any decision would be dependent on a successful business case as well as capital funding being made available to the Trust.”

Politicians and health campaigners have been calling for the capital funding and revenue required to provide an MRI scanner and cover its running costs.

They say local access to such a scanner would further enhance the range of diagnostic services provided at the Downe, ensuring local people would not have to travel outside the district to use such a facility.

With waiting lists for diagnostic services continuing to increase at other hospitals, which impact on local patients, politicians and health campaigners are keen to see such a fully fledged MRI service available locally.

They hope the work on the business case can be completed and that the Department of Health will pave the way for the new scanner to be provided.

The provision of a new scanner would be a major boost for the hospital where work is presently underway to prepare for the opening of a specialist centre of excellence for cataract surgery.

The Downpatrick hospital will be at the forefront of a new model of care under new Department of Health plans for the delivery of a range of dedicated day surgery services across the province.

The new cataract service is designed to significantly reduce surgery waiting lists, with the new consultant-led, elective care centre providing routine day surgery procedures at an enhanced outpatient department.

Health chiefs insist the creation of the new elective care centres represents a “significant step” forward in the transformation of health care and clearly demonstrates the benefits to patients. They say the new regional centres will secure important progress in the efficiency and effectiveness of care.