Greenham Common Trust donates £450,000 for digital x-ray equipment

Greenham Common Trust is providing £450,000 to fund digital X-ray equipment for the new West Berkshire Community Hospital due to open in March.

The Trust agreed the funding following detailed discussions with Newbury Hospital Helpers League, Newbury and Thatcham Community Hospital Building Trust and Newbury and Community Primary Care Trust. The equipment will provide the hospital with the latest, state of the art equipment normally only found in much larger hospitals.

The new hospital will serve around 140,000 people in West Berkshire and North Hampshire. It is expected that the equipment will take around 20,000 X-rays a year.

The equipment is highly sophisticated and will provide digital links to allow the transmission of images instantly to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and other hospitals. This has the following advantages:

		Speed of operation
		X-rays can be assessed by consultant remotely saving time and travel
		Digital storage of images for easy storage and fast retrieval
		Compatible with systems in Reading and will be able to link with other hospitals
		X-rays can be beamed to an expert who can provide advice on treatment even though they may be many miles away
		If a person is injured away from home past X-rays can be beamed there immediately to help their treatment

Greenham Common Trust Chairman Sir Peter Michael says: “Health is fundamental to the well being of the whole community. We are delighted to be able to fund this important project that will make a real difference to the quality of service for a wide cross section of the community both now and into the future. It is the Trust's effective management of its investment in New Greenham Park that has enabled it to provide major benefits such as this and the new facility planned for Mencap.”

Sheila Hayes, Chief Executive of Newbury and Community PCT welcomed the generous donation which had secured the digital x-ray equipment for the new hospital. She says: “This high quality equipment will improve the services for local people through enabling more immediate access to clinical advice.”

For more information about Greenham Common Trust's Grant Aid programme contact Melissa Elliott on 01635 817445 or e-mail melissa@greenham-common-trust.co.uk