A new £1m brain scanner is lying idle because of staff shortages, it was revealed last night.

Bosses at the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, admit that the neurosciences scanner cannot be used because of lack of trained staff.

Since it arrived this summer, as part of a £165m revamp to turn the former South Cleveland Hospital into a regional super hospital, the new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner has not been used on a single patient. The James Cook treats patients from across Teesside, County Durham and North Yorkshire.

The advanced equipment - which is among the most modern in Europe - can be used to operate on patients with a range of brain disorders without cutting into the skull.

But because the South Tees Hospital NHS Trust does not have enough trained staff, the new scanner is unused.

Earlier this week, the trust admitted that one of its three MRI scanners was older than the seven-year maximum recommended by the Royal College of Radiologists, although the ten-year-old scanner is regularly maintained and is due to be replaced in 2005.

A source inside the hospital claimed it was "a scandal" that so much taxpayers' money was being wasted.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed that the situation was being made even worse because trained radiology staff from other departments were barred from using the new machinery.

This was denied by a trust spokeswoman who said the main difficulty was shortage of specialist staff.

In a statement to The Northern Echo, the chief of service for neurosciences for South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, Dr Peter Tilley, pointed out that the new MRI scanner has just been commissioned, existing staff were being trained to use the new machine and new staff are being recruited.

He said the priority for the former Middlesbrough General Hospital neuroradiology staff who were transferred to the new single-site hospital at James Cook this summer was to keep all the existing services running.

Dr Tilley's full statement read: "We have got a new MRI scanner in our neuroradiology department which has only just been commissioned.

"We also commissioned a new MRI scanner in our general radiology department in March of this year.

"We are training existing staff and recruiting specialist staff to operate the scanner though there is a national shortage in this field.

"The department of neuroradiology has only just been brought over to the James Cook University Hospital from Middlesbrough General and the neuroradiology department did not have an MRI scanner before.

"On moving to James Cook, our priority was to keep all the services at Middlesbrough General running as they had been. We took delivery of several new pieces of equipment which staff need to be trained to operate safely.

"Our two imaging departments - neuroradiology and general radiology - are working together to ensure we can make maximum use of this highly specialised and expensive equipment in the interest of patients.

"It is an exciting development for the trust and will help to improve the range and amount of diagnostic services we provide to patients."

Anne Raw, chairwoman of South Tees Community Health Council, said: "We have been fully aware that there have been problems in the radiology department for a long time.

"One of our members visited the divisional manager on October 13 to discuss all the problems.

"We have been assured that they are aware of these problems."

Dr Paul Dubbins, vice president of the Royal College of Radiologists, said he was not surprised at the problems on Teesside as there was a "desperate" shortage of trained staff in the country.

"A plan to double the number of radiologists by 2010 will be launched next year but it will take years to have any impact," he added.