Withybush Hospital, Haverfordwest, has been given the go-ahead for its own state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner to provide more advanced diagnostic services to Pembrokeshire patients. Welsh Assembly Government has this week approved £1.3m in funding for a new 1.5 Tesla scanner to replace services currently provided at Werndale Hospital in Bancyfelin. The news comes just weeks after the announcement that a new £8.75m A&E centre, combining emergency, unscheduled and social care into one facility, is also to be constructed at Withybush Hospital. Once operational, this facility will put Pembrokeshire at the forefront of emergency and unscheduled care services across Wales. Said Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust chief executive, Keith Thomson: "The new MRI facility will be of huge benefit to Pembrokeshire people and, once again, demonstrates the high levels of investment taking place across the NHS Trust to provide modern, fit for purpose healthcare services for patients locally. "This advanced technology scanner will not only allow us to provide patients with cutting-edge diagnostic imaging services locally, but will also facilitate recruitment of highly qualified consultant radiologists seeking MRI scanner experience. This is a medical speciality where consultants are nationally in short supply and up-to-date equipment will be a major attraction." MRI scanners use powerful magnets and radio waves to produce cross-section images of bones, muscles, joints, blood vessels, nerves and body structures. They are used to examine the brain, spinal cord and joints and, increasing, to investigate conditions such as cancer and strokes. The scanner does not use X-rays so is one of the safest imaging techniques available. Currently, Withybush Hospital carries out more than 1,200 scans a year under a contract with Compass Healthcare at Werndale Hospital in Bancyfelin, requiring patients to undertake a 46-mile round trip, often by ambulance and under medical supervision. To achieve NHS targets on waiting times, it is anticipated that this could increase to 5,800 scans per year. As well as eliminating the need to travel outside the county, this on-site scanner will provide better images for earlier diagnosis, reduce the need for overnight hospital stays, invasive surgery and use of CT or ultrasound scans and enable greater use of outpatient, same-day and emergency MRI scans. It will also give Pembrokeshire GPs direct access to refer patients for scans rather than going through a hospital consultant. The scanner will be housed in a new building adjacent to the radiology department and managed by a team that includes three consultants, with a fourth consultant post currently being advertised. Said Keith Thomson: "This new MRI facility will be a major boost towards improving the quality of service and care offered to local people, helping to modernise county services to meet the changing needs of patients into the next century and in attracting new radiology staff to the area." Local AM Christine Gwyther said: "This is fantastic news for Withybush Hospital and for my constituents in South Pembrokeshire. "We know that early diagnosis is crucial for effective treatment. The new MRI scanner will facilitate effective, early diagnosis of cancers in particular and will show how treatment is working. "I have long been pressing the Pembrokeshire Trust to make better use of Welsh Assembly Government funding. They have got their act together in this instance and the facility will be operating in spring next year. "We need to keep investing in Withybush - for the sake of our patients and also to reassure our hard- working health staff that Withybush Hospital is here to stay."