£8.5m for New CT and MRI Scanners for NHS Wales

A multi-million pound funding boost to provide the Welsh NHS with new state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment to help reduce waiting times has been announced by Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford and Finance Minister Jane Hutt.

The investment, worth more than £8.5m in 2014-15, will enable four health boards to buy new CT and MRI scanning equipment.

The funding is allocated as follows:

• £1.5m for Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board – this will provide an additional CT scanner for the Princess of Wales Hospital. The CT scanner will provide colonography and cardiac capacity;
• £1.6m to Aneurin Bevan University Health Board – this will provide a new MRI scanner at Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital;
• £1.8m for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – this will provide two additional CT scanners, one each at Wrexham Maelor Hospital and Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor;
• £1.5m to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board – this will provide a new CT scanner in the main department at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales and will allow the existing CT scanner to be relocated to the emergency radiology department;
• £1.8m for Hywel Dda University Health Board – this will provide a new MRI scanner at Carmarthen's Glangwili Hospital.

This funding includes £2.5m announced last year for additional diagnostic equipment.

The £8.5m investment is part of a wider new £14.9m package of Welsh Government capital funding for the Welsh NHS.

Professor Drakeford said:

"This multi-million pound investment clearly demonstrates this government's commitment to the NHS. It will deliver state-of-the art technology to hospitals across Wales and will help reduce waiting times for diagnostic tests.

"Despite the pressures on the NHS, access to diagnostic tests is improving. However, I accept that in some cases, waits are still too long.

"Speeding up access to these tests will mean that patients get results faster, and can start their full treatment sooner, meaning overall waiting times should reduce."

Finance Minister Jane Hutt said:

"We have been clear that providing a safe and sustainable Welsh NHS is a priority for this government. That's why I have invested an additional half a billion pounds in the Welsh NHS over the course of the next two years – ensuring our NHS delivers the highest quality services people in Wales expect.

"We are providing these additional resources to ensure that patients receive the treatments they need within the target times that have been set. This is the action of a responsible government, which puts investment in health at the forefront of its priorities."

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Press contact:

Martyn Williams
Tel: 029 2082 1823

e-Mail: Martyn.Williams@wales.gsi.gov.uk