New car park entrance to Wrexham Maelor's Emergency Department

31.08.2022

Wrexham Maelor Hospital is opening a new entrance to the Emergency Department car park to support the installation of a new radiology facility. 

The hospital will soon be opening the new entrance to the Emergency Department car park via the staff and ambulance entrance off Croesnewydd Road, and once completed the current entrance will be closed off. New signage will be put up for patients and visitors.  

This is to support a new modular advanced MRI scanner being installed outside the Radiology Department, whilst the current scanner in the hospital is being upgraded.  

Stephen Roberts, Radiology Services Manager, said: “Having the modular MRI unit on site will help us to maintain the MRI service whilst the existing scanner is being upgraded, and the MRI department refurbished. Keeping the modular MRI scanner on site once the new scanner is operational will allow us to quickly reduce the waiting list for all patients who are waiting for an MRI scan.” 

The area that the new modular MRI scanner will be installed was previously used by a mobile PET/CT scanner which has been moved to the Artificial Limb Appliance Centre (ALAC) car park. 

The new facility is part of a multi-million-pound equipment replacement programme, funded by Welsh Government, that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is carrying out within the radiology service across North Wales, which includes X-ray rooms, scanners and ultrasound machines.   

Earlier this year Wrexham Maelor Hospital installed a new state-of-the-art gamma camera, an imaging device which scans parts of the body, including most major organs such as the brain, lungs and bones. The camera, which replaced an old imaging device, has faster scan times, clearer images, and a lower radiation dose, which will overall help speed-up patient diagnosis. 

The hospital has also recently opened a refurbished Interventional Radiology Suite with a new Siemens Artis Q C-arm. This state-of-the-art x-ray equipment delivers new levels of image quality with reduced radiation dose, and will reduce the need for patients to undergo additional CT or MRI imaging prior to their interventional procedures, as previous scans can be imported into the system and used to guide the Interventional Radiologists during procedures.