A NEW £82,000 ultrasound machine has been installed at Princess Alexandra Hospital.

The equipment will provide instant images to aid diagnosis and doubles the ultrasound capacity in the x-ray department.

The Harlow-based hospital already has three ultrasound rooms in the maternity department, and radiology business manager Liz Mazura said the new equipment will improve services.

She said: "This allows us far greater flexibility in the way we work.

"It means we can dedicate one ultrasound machine to the needs of inpatients while the other can be used mainly for outpatient tests and more complex procedures.

"This will result in a far quicker turn-around for patients and enables us to provide doctors with instant images to aid diagnosis of a number of medical problems.”