Airedale Hospital's ageing X-ray equipment is to be replaced with state-of-the art equipment, including its first MRI scanner.

Health chiefs have given the go-ahead for a scheme which will replace old equipment and enlarge the current radiology building at an annual cost of £437,000 over the next 15 years.

Elderly machines, some of which have been at the hospital for 28-years, have been presenting a problem for medical staff as they have been liable to break down at any time due to their age.

With the radiology service vital to the treatment of patients, Airedale NHS Trust members have decided that the installation of new equipment can be delayed no longer.

Hospital chiefs have also sanctioned the introduction of the first permanent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, which will allow inpatient and outpatient cancer patients to be screened promptly.

Airedale is currently served one day a week by a mobile MRI unit. However, there is a 40-week waiting list for some patients using the service.

Phase one of the scheme to form a new angiography suite and to upgrade existing services has already been completed.

Phase two will provide new clinic space and new equipment by September 2002.

Director of planning and marketing Doug Farrow said: "Traditional X-ray equipment should be replaced every ten years and yet we have got pieces of equipment which have been here for 28 years.

"In future, the trust won't have to soldier on with outdated equipment.

"The work will be carried out around the department and will be phased in over a period of time."

Mr Farrow added that even with the new permanent MRI scanner, more cash will have to be secured for extra staffing before the waiting list can be reduced.

The hospital has struck up a deal with electronics company Siemens, which will manage existing and new equipment from June 1.

By September next year Siemens will have replaced any elderly equipment and over the next 15 years it will replace equipment according to guidelines for each machine.

Engineers at the hospital will continue to maintain the machines on a day-to-day basis and will liaise with engineers at Siemens.

The trust will also continue to provide support for the use of X-ray equipment which is used in health centres in Skipton, Ikley and Keighley.

The radiology department has been subject to a number of changes since the original proposals for new X-ray equipment were proposed five years ago.

Diagnostic equipment in accident and emergency has failed and since been replaced.

When the angiography equipment failed, the trust also sanctioned its replacement and approved building work to upgrade its accommodation.

A new CT scanner, which will be funded separately through the New Opportunities Fund, has also been included in the plans for the department.

The existing X-ray department has been extended into part of a vacated theatre block to provide space for new equipment.

When it is fully up and running, the department will also be using the latest computerised technology, which it is hoped will speed up diagnosis times.