Work began this week on a major upgrade to diagnostic services at Daisy Hill Hospital.
More than 250,000 diagnostic scans and examinations are carried out in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust each year.
The investment of £485,000 involves the replacement of equipment in two of the hospital’s three x-ray rooms to new digital technology.
One room was replaced in 2014 so the entire department will be operating from a digital platform following this work.
Ronan Carroll, Assistant Director of Cancer and Clinical Services for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, said: “The radiography department at Daisy Hill offers a wide range of diagnostic imaging services including CT scanning, ultrasound and x-rays.
“As the timely and accurate diagnosis of patients is vital in ensuring patients get the right treatment, we must keep up to date with the very latest technology to ensure our patients get the best possible care.
“Digital x-rays offer much more superior images to the traditional plain film version, allowing more accurate diagnosis of conditions. As they are compatible with NIPACs, the electronic system used by staff, digital images are more easily shared between medics, speeding up the diagnostic process.
“The installation of this new equipment means that all three general x-ray rooms at Daisy Hill will now have the very best technology available, patients will have lower exposure to radiation and we will be able to undertake an additional 2,600 x-rays each year from the Department.”
Work on the project is expected to continue until the end of March and patients may experience some delays when attending the Department.
Ronan concludes: “We do have temporary imaging equipment in place until our upgrade is completed and staff are doing all they can to keep the disruption to a minimum. We would like to thank patients and visitors to the Department for their continued understanding and co-operation while we make these improvements to the service.”
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