A YORK hospital is set to install an MRI scanner suite to meet growing demand for screening services.

Ramsey Healthcare seek to install the facility at Equinox House on Clifton Park Avenue, along with related plant equipment.

A planning application to City of York Council says the aim is to convert part of the ground floor of the existing hospital for the scanner suite.

Related pipe work will act as a safety valve for the scanner, which is a normal requirement for them.

At present the MRI scanner facilities are provided by a visiting mobile scanner vehicle which calls at the Clifton Hospital site in Blue Beck Drive about twice a week.

A much more satisfactory situation, the application continued, would be to offer the service every day.

“Demand for this service has now reached a level where the cost of providing a permanent installation within the outpatient building can be justified,” it said.

The application added that up to 20 patients would use the facility every day and four staff would be employed.

The mobile scanner would still visit the hospital as required.

City of York Council has still to determine the application.