At next week's meeting of the Pembrokeshire and Derwen Trust Board, members will be asked to support a bid for an MRI scanner to be located in Withybush Hospital. Since 1993, patients needing MRI scans have had to travel to Werndale Hospital at Bancyfelin where the Trust has a contract for the use of their scanner. Most hospitals now have their own MRI machine. With an increasing local need for such scans, it is considered essential that such a facility is available in Withybush. Such a move would also offer an opportunity to give greater access to GPs to refer patients directly for a scan, rather than an initial referral to a hospital consultant. This would be good news for patients and would also help in the future in attracting consultant radiologists to the area. This is one medical specialty where consultants are nationally in short supply and up-to-date equipment could prove a major attraction. "The purchase of our own scanner would be a major boost to our agenda for modernising our services within Pembrokeshire," said chief executive Keith Thomson. He added that a business case had been developed for consideration by the Board prior to a capital funding bid to the Welsh Assembly.
