A new scanner has been installed at Queen’s Hospital in Romford that combines nuclear medicine with CT scans for quicker and more accurate diagnoses.

The computer tomography machine involves injecting a patient with radiation to get a 3D image of blood flow to different organs in the body.

It provides functional information about the body while CT scans give a structural look inside, according to Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT).

“It’s the first time we’ve had a hybrid scanner,” the trust’s head of nuclear medicine Karen Gannon said.

“This gives us more detailed imaging, letting medical clinicians get a complete view of the patient and their condition with a more accurate diagnosis.” 

The scanner was formally switched on with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Hornchurch Football Club’s chairman Alex Sharp, who has himself been to the hospital numerous times.

The machine is the only one of its kind in NHS hospitals in London and one of very few across the country, BHRUT said.

It means some patients no longer need to have separate CT scans. The combined scanner is reducing the time it takes to run cardiology scans in half for heart patients, from around 20 minutes to less than ten.

Scans are fused together, to create a better diagnosis for ongoing treatment as well as reducing the hospital’s waiting list for scans.

Only those with conditions related to endocrine, rheumatology and cardiology are being treated by the new scanner at the moment — but BHRUT said it is expanding its use in the near future for patients with other conditions.