Charity fund reaches £1 million target to buy new MRI scanner

A Teesside charity fund has raised £1 million to buy a new MRI scanner at The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough.

The £1m milestone was reached within 18 months, after a number fundraising events.

The scanner upgrade will enable cardiac consultants to carry out state of the art scanning and a full Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) Imaging service. It means doctors will now be able to view the moving heart in high definition from any angle and without exposure to X-rays.

Doctors at the hospital have said the scanner is like “putting the heart under a microscope, without the need for an invasive tissue biopsy”.

Dr Neil Maredia, consultant cardiologist at The James Cook University Hospital said the trust was very grateful to the South Cleveland Heart Fund for raising “such an impressive sum”.

Adrian Davies, chairman of South Cleveland Heart Fund, said the achievement was down to the hard work of the whole committee and that there were a number of other items on its 'shopping list'.