TV presenter Mary Berry was the star attraction for patients, staff and visitors at the Royal United Hospital on Monday, when she officially opened a new £1.2m Positron PET-CT cancer scanner.
The Great British Bake Off host unveiled a plaque and praised the charity, the Bath Cancer Unit Supporters Group, which raised the cash to buy it.
She said: “This is a very exciting moment for the RUH and its patients. It represents so much work by your members and the very many people who donated so generously.”
The new state-of-the-art scanner, which can be used in the detection and diagnosis of cancer and dementia, is due to take its first patient at the RUH this week.
Consultant Radiologist Richard Graham said: “It means patients needing such a scan will no longer have to travel to Cheltenham, a long journey at a difficult and stressful time.
“It really is an amazing piece of equipment that allows us to give an even more accurate diagnosis of cancer and improved monitoring of patients’ ongoing treatment.”
Among the guests who met Mary Berry was Esther Simpson, who is walking proof of the scanner’s life-saving potential. A PET-CT scan eight years ago pinpointed her primary cancer and allowed her to be successfully treated.
She said: “I was thrilled to learn that the BCUSG had launched an appeal to raise the £1.2 million pounds needed to buy our very own PET-CT scanner for use at the RUH.
“The BCUSG have done so much for our Oncology unit over the past 31 years. We are so lucky to have such wonderful support.”
The charity has raised almost all the £1.3m required to purchase and equip the scanner. The RUH is investing a further £1.4m to cover the costs of installation.
The RUH is the first hospital in the South West to have such a purpose-built fixed scanner.
