Hospital to receive major X-ray equipment upgrade

The minor injury unit will remain open throughout the upgrade, however x-rays will be temporarily unavailable

Newquay Community Hospital is set to receive a major upgrade to their current X-ray equipment.

According to staff at the centre, the new machinery would allow quicker treatment and for more patients to be seen.

The new digital radiography equipment uses X-ray sensitive plates to directly capture data which is then transferred to a computer system, without the need for a cassette, which will speed up the overall process.

Senior radiographer Suzanne Grice-Renault has been doing the job for 40 years and believed the wait for the upgrade would be worth it.

She said: "The upgrade is much needed. We will upgrade the whole room and patients will be seen in a very timely manner. It will take a matter of minutes, rather than 10 to 15 minutes per patient."

She added: "Other sites where the new equipment has been installed are seeing up to 50 patients - it is a win-win for everybody."

The minor injury unit will remain open throughout the upgrade, however x-rays will be temporarily unavailable.

Work on the facilities at Newquay Community Hospital started on Wednesday, with the work expected to take up to eight weeks.