A specialist veterinary hospital has invested more than £1 million in a cutting-edge MRI scanner.

The Philips BlueSeal MR 5300 will enable Northwest Veterinary Specialists (NWVS), in Sutton Weaver, Runcorn, to offer enhanced clinical care for pets referred to their practice.

Along with the NWVS diagnostic imaging team, the new equipment will allow the hospital to treat more patients and deliver quicker, more accurate results.

Hospital manager Jenny Pearson explained the benefits of the new scanner: "A large proportion of our patients will require some form of diagnostic imaging to help diagnose their specific problems and plan their treatment.

"Every patient is unique and this new scanner will help us deliver effective, personalised and targeted care.

"It is very user-friendly as it incorporates a wealth of AI-driven technologies to simplify and automate the most complex clinical and operational tasks.

"It is also easy to position around the patient for comfort and produces high-quality, high-resolution imaging which is essential when visualising the smaller anatomies.

"This significant investment will help us meet the rising demand for imaging, enabling us to diagnose an increasing number of clinically challenging cases accurately, efficiently and cost-effectively."

Luca Motta, head of neurology at NWVS, added: "This high-field MRI scanner gives a higher signal to noise ratio, leading to superior image resolution and also shorter scan times when compared to a low field machine.

"In addition, thanks to the new software we can run sequences which we could not carry out on the previous low-field MRI.

"It also means we can perform MRI on large breed dogs without sacrificing the image resolution."

This is the latest addition to NWVS's diagnostic imaging suite, which includes various other high-tech scanning machines.