Yahoo News Plans lodged for MRI scanner and patient hub at Newcastle Quays Retail Park
MRI scans could soon be available to the public at the Newcastle Quays Retail Park if plans are approved.
North Tyneside Council has received an application to install an MRI facility in the North Shields shopping centre car park facing Coble Dene. According to the applicant, TESLA Radiology Solutions Ltd already has a lease agreement in place for the facility.
Submitted planning documents from the firm state: “We are going to provide MRI scanning services to the public as an independent organisation. We have a relocatable MRI scanner [....] This unit is relocatable with the use of cranes.”
The unit, if granted approval, would serve eight to ten patients per day, each patient with an allocated time slot. The planning documents go on to say the applicant has been in contact with the council’s business development department since April 2024 to identify appropriate sites.
According to the NHS, MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, is a type of scan, which uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to create images of the inside of the body. The scan can be used to examine almost all of the human body including:
The brain and spinal cord
Bones and joints
Breasts
Heart and blood vessels
Internal organs
The scan can be used to help diagnose illnesses, organise treatments and assess previous treatments.
Figures from the Nuffield Trust, published in May this year, revealed that the number of people paying for private hospital care increased from 800 to 2,560 per quarter. The Trust went on to suggest this was indicative of a “lack of timely access” to NHS provision.
