NURSING staff and patients at Leighton Hospital have received a boost thanks to new equipment in four departments.

Six ultrasound machines have been purchased by Mid Cheshire Hospitals for Leighton and also Northwich's Victoria Infirmary.

Two machines will replace older equipment at Leighton's maternity department and one will be installed at the Patrick Murphy Gynaecology Unit.

Patients visiting radiology will benefit from reduced waiting times once a new ultrasound machine is installed there to enable more patients to be scanned.

The new breast care unit will also have an utrasound machine installed and one will replace equipment in Northwich.

Ultrasound is a diagnostic technique where very high frequency sound waves, which are inaudible to the human ear, are passed into the body.

The reflected echoes are detected and analysed to build a picture of a specific organ the procedure has wide applications from detecting tumours to monitoring pregnancy.

Chief Executive Simon Yates said: "The clearer, better images provided by these new state-of-the-art ultrasound machines will certainly improve patient diagnosis.

"Having more, and more reliable ultrasound equipment will mean reduced treatment waiting times for patients."

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