New imaging centre at Paddington hospital

One, a GE 2-Tesla MR scanner, is the first in Europe, and the other is a 256-slice CT scanner, the first in the UK.

Bruno Tonello, imaging services manager, said: "With our new high tech imaging centre we'll be able to answer most diagnostic questions for our patients allowing doctors to plan their treatment more effectively.

"The centre will perfectly meet the needs of critically ill patients who urgently require diagnostic scanning."

The new centre will increase the number of patients the hospital is able to scan.

Mr Tonello added:"The speed and image quality of both machines means we can scan an increasing number of patients non-invasively.

"For example we'll be able to assess more patients on an outpatient basis and avoid invasive procedures like angiograms where patients' blood vessels are injected with contrast agents and then x-rayed."

Previously patients' bodies needed to be scanned in sections, but now whole areas can be scanned at once.

The new CT can improve diagnosis of conditions like strokes, cancer and infection by looking in more detail at the rate blood is pumped through the brain and solid organs.