PATIENTS at a Teesside hospital will benefit from a mobile MRI scanner visiting over the next two weeks.
The mobile scanner is part of a Government initiative to reduce waiting times for patients.
It is expected to scan up to 400 patients during its time at The University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton.
The visit is the first of four each year that the mobile unit will make to the hospital.
It will be set up outside the main entrance.
The unit and staff, two radiographers and a radiography helper, are provided by Alliance Medical Limited which already provides scanning facilities for the hospital.
Mike Helm, radiology manager for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust, said: "By providing this service we hope to reduce and keep our waiting times to a maximum of four weeks for an MRI scan.
"Reducing waiting times has got to be good news for patients as has speeding up diagnosis in order for treatment to begin much sooner."
The mobile MRI scanner will be at the hospital until November 17, operating 12 hours a day seven days a week.
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