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As the new Mudgee Hospital redevelopment takes shape ahead of its expected opening at the end of the month a major piece of the puzzle was put in place on Monday morning (May 25).
A CT scanner was delivered by truck and placed in its new home inside the radiology department of the new hospital by a crew of workers as excited staff looked on, anxious for training to get underway.
Uschi Rowlands, who started her first day in the radiology department as CT Supervising Radiographer on Monday said the new scanner was an exciting piece of tech.
Hospital history:
"It's got the latest software and it's got more functions, so it's going to allow us to do slightly more complex examinations," Ms Rowlands said.
"We will have all new equipment to do state of the art angiography scans like looking at people's blood vessels and things like that which we couldn't previously do.
"It's so exciting, I'm so excited. It's such a good thing for Mudgee. What's so important to me is it's providing a really important service for Mudgee and I'm excited to be a part of it and make a difference in people's lives."
The location of the radiology department in the new hospital means a drastic reduction in the distance people that need a scan will have to travel, previously needing to leave the hospital building to get one.
"Having a purpose built department - our spaces have increased dramatically - so being in a building that was built in the 50s trying to cope with the demands has always been a challenge. So going into a place with nice big rooms and big spaces, we're very much looking forward to that," Adrian Johnson, Chief Radiographer said.
"It's also going to be more timely. So diagnosis in advance and working out the patient's going to be required to go if they need transfers.
"It's going to reduce the amount of transfers outside of the hospital for CT scans, particularly those ones that require travelling to other sites that have them..."
It's expected installation, testing and training will take two weeks before it can be used with patients.
Are you excited for the new hospital to open? Let us know what you think.