Having met with officials from the Southern Health and Social Care Trust in relation to the need for a new CT Scanner in Daisy Hill Hospital, Mickey Brady MP has revealed that the current scanner was out of action again last week, the third time the machine has reportedly broken down within a short period of time.
Trust management have confirmed the need for a replacement scanner and are currently working on a business case for it, Mr Brady has claimed. He has called for the project to be expedited, stating that the “age, condition and effectiveness of the current machine is a cause of great concern”.
“Daisy Hill Acute Hospital, Newry City is in the largest locality in the Southern Trust in Newry & Mourne, and also provides for the wider catchment population which also includes south Armagh and south Down,” Mr Brady said. “It is essential that to ensure that the objectives of ‘increasing capacity to meet future demand and to further improve quality and safety’ are met, that investment and funding for new, up to date major CT and MRI scanning equipment is made available as a matter of urgency.”
It is believed the new CT Scanner will have an increased specification compared to the current machine, thus the business case approval from the Department of Health for the replacement scanner will therefore also require approval for an increase in the low voltage electrical supply to the site, as well as additional space due to the footprint of the scanner, Mr Brady revealed.
“Whilst the business case process is ongoing, approval has been sought by the Trust for the use of a mobile scanner in the interim period. This again is welcome but can only be a temporary solution to the problem,” he added.