A new state-of-the-art MRI scanner has been delivered to Forth Valley Royal Hospital. The one million pound specialist scanner was carefully craned into position outside the hospital before being wheeled along a corridor into its new home within the hospital’s radiology department.

It will now be set up over the next few weeks in a specially refurbished room with a new back-lit picture wall and ambient lighting to help patients relax in calming and less clinical surroundings.

MRI scanners are used to take images of all parts of the body including the brain, spinal cord, heart and blood vessels and internal organs such as the liver, womb, prostate gland and gall bladder. Around 160 patients from across Forth Valley require MRI scans every week.

Every year NHS Forth Valley is required to invest millions of pounds to replace and upgrade a wide range of medical equipment. MRI scanners normally have to be replaced every 7 – 10 years and the new scanner replaces an older scanner currently based within the hospital.