Four in 10 NHS hospitals in England found to use outdated equipment in Lib Dem study

Party calls for urgent extra funding as it finds there are hundreds of old X-ray machines, CT scanners and radiotherapy machines in use

Four in 10 NHS hospitals in England are using outdated medical equipment including 37-year-old X-ray machines, according to research from the Lib Dems, who are calling for extra funding to replace outdated devices.

NHS hospitals are using hundreds of old X-ray machines, CT scanners and radiotherapy machines, with some dating back to the 1980s, according to research based on freedom of information requests to 69 hospital trusts. Of these, 41 said they had at least one X-ray machine that was more than 20 years old.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, said he would call for urgent government investment in medical equipment at the party's spring conference.

"It beggars belief that NHS staff are having to rely on results from decades-old hospital scanners, machinery that may have been built before they were even born. Understaffed and exhausted NHS staff are being pushed to breaking point, while patients are treated in crumbling hospitals with outdated equipment," he said.

"The potential for error from poor-quality machines doesn't bear thinking about. People up and down the country will be worried about whether they will get an accurate reading from these decades-old machines."

The Lib Dem research found that there were 541 pieces of medical equipment, including X-ray machines, CT and MRI scanners and radiotherapy treatment machines, across the hospital trusts which were over a decade old. Four in 10 hospital trusts have outdated medical equipment at least a decade old.

This is despite advice from NHS England that CT and MRI scanners and X-ray machines should be replaced every 10 years to ensure they continue to operate reliably and produce clear images.

The figures also revealed that the NHS paid almost £20m over the past three years to maintain old X-ray machines and scanners. Newcastle upon Tyne hospitals trust had the biggest maintenance bill with almost £7.5m spent in the past three years.

The oldest piece of equipment was a 37-year-old X-ray machine owned by Bedfordshire hospitals trust. Other trusts with the oldest X-ray machines included the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay trust (27 years), Royal Cornwall hospitals trust (26 years) and Hampshire hospitals trust (26 years).

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Thirty of the 69 NHS trusts had either a CT or MRI scanner that was at least 10 years old, with the oldest MRI scanner aged 20 and at Stockport NHS foundation trust, while East Sussex had the oldest CT scanner at 17 years old.

A separate parliamentary question found that 20 of the country's 268 linear accelerators used in radiotherapy were older than their recommended 10-year life span.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We are investing record sums to upgrade and modernise NHS buildings so staff have the facilities needed to provide world-class care for patients, backed by £4.2bn this year and £8.4bn over the next two years.

"The NHS spent 99% of the capital funding available to it in 21/22, delivering huge benefits for patients and staff, including 16 new hospital upgrades and 92 community diagnostic centres to provide tests, checks and scans, as well as the renewal and replacement of equipment and minor building works."