Funding for new X-ray facility to reduce UK transfers, Manx Care says

New X-ray equipment donated to a hospital in the north of the Isle of Man will help create a "more localised service", Manx Care has said.

Trustees of Ramsey and District Cottage Hospital (RDCH) welfare fund and the RDCH endowment trustees have paid for the new equipment.

Radiology manager Kathleen McDowall said the new fully-digital kit allowed for the instant viewing of images.

Some patients could now be examined on island instead of in the UK, she said.

Ms McDowall said the increased quality of the X-rays had been noted by the consultant radiologists, who examine and report on them, and the machine is also lighter and easier for the radiographers who carry them out.

A Manx Care spokeswoman said the donation would help to maintain a "modern and well-equipped community hospital" as it continued to expand the services it offers.

The RDCH welfare fund, which relies on donations or bequests, has also recently supplied a grant for equipment needed to establish specialist dermatology unit in Ramsey.

Patients who previously needed plastic surgery had to go to Whiston Hospital in Liverpool for treatment, but many of these individuals can now be treated at the unit, which includes a dermatome used in skin grafting.

The trustees have now also funded an echocardiogram machine, which is a specialist ultrasound machine to scan the heart, expanding the scope of cardiology outpatient clinics.

A Manx Care spokeswoman said it had helped to provide the services locally, which had also been extended from one day a week to up to four days a week due to extra capacity within the cardiac physiology team.

The new equipment and larger team was reducing waiting lists overall, and feedback from patients had been "without exception entirely favourable in terms of convenience", she added.

Why not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]