State-of-the-art scanner unveiled

A state-of-the-art CT scanner, capable of dramatically speeding up examinations, is being unveiled at East Surrey Hospital.

Dr Stephen Gwyther, from Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, said the machine could capture 64 images at once of any part of the body.

The Friends of East Surrey Hospital raised £465,000 for the scanner, now installed in the radiology department.

The hospital in Redhill serves east Surrey and north west Sussex.

Dr Gwyther said: "It has a much greater capacity than our other two scanners, and means we can give a quicker, more efficient service to our patients, improve diagnosis and begin follow-up treatment earlier.

"Radiology staff are being trained to operate the new machine which we hope will soon be fully operational."

'Vital equipment'

He said examinations could be carried out in seconds rather than minutes with the hi-tech machine.

Computer-generated 3D reconstructions of the body can also be routinely generated to aid diagnosis.

The Friends of East Surrey Hospital financed the machine by donating £374,000 profit from their two hospital shops - the charity's largest donation to date.

The rest of the money for "this vital piece of equipment" came from legacies and a fund-raising ball, charity chairman Richard Burford said.