EAST Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trusts' £1.25million scanner unit was being officially opened today.

The Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner at Burnley General Hospital will be used to detect life-threatening diseases such as cancer.

It has been funded by the New Opportunities Fund, a Government initiative which uses money from the National Lottery to buy new technology for diagnosis.

Building work and the unit to house the scanner were funded by Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority.

The installation of the scanner means that patients from Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale who require an MRI scan will no longer have to travel to Blackburn Royal Infirmary where the first scanner was installed for East Lancashire patients.

It will also slash waiting times now the area has twice the amount of equipment.

The unit first opened its doors to patients last month following installation of the new equipment and training of staff.

So far around 180 patients have undergone scans and a wide range of different examinations.

Superintendent radiographer Chris Kasap said: "This provides a valuable service to both outpatients and inpatients as MRI is very effective in both diagnosing and staging many disease processes and conditions."

The scanner works by providing extremely detailed images of the body for the diagnosis of a wide range of medical conditions. It does not use x-rays and has no serious short or long-term side effects.

The machine, which weighs four tonnes, is expected to be used in 2,000 examinations each year.

Today David Chew, formerly chief executive of Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust, was officially opening the scanner unit.

He said: "I am very pleased to be invited to perform the opening of the new MRI Scanner Unit at Burnley General Hospital.

"This is the second time in a week that a major health initiative has been launched at the hospital following the turf cutting ceremony for Phase 5 last week.

"The MRI scanner will provide an important diagnostic tool for patients here in Burnley and means local people will no longer have to travel to Blackburn for these investigations."