LOCAL patients will be able to get scans to diagnose their condition at a new healthcare centre in York - set to open this year.

Lodestone Patient Care, a company which specialises radiology services, has got planning permission to open a new centre based at York Science Park.

The centre will offer CT, ultrasound and x-ray scans to a mixture of NHS and private patients and is expected to open for business towards the end of this year.

Meanwhile, dozens of NHS patients have already been given MRI scans at the University of York, which opened its services to the public under Lodestone's management at the beginning of this month.

Professor Gary Green, director of the university-based Neuro Imaging centre, said York Hospital was sending batches of patients to the centre to keep its own waiting lists down.

He said the university's MRI scanner was a 3Tesla machine which provided a particularly high resolution of image.

About a dozen NHS patients a week had used the service since it started at the beginning of this month - and there were also other, private clients.

The encroachment of private companies offering NHS services across the country has sparked fears in some quarters that the health service is becoming increasingly privatised.

Professor Green said: "People have an anxiety about it, but you've got to understand that under new arrangements, hospitals have to source up to 15 per cent of their work from the private sector.

"They're under an obligation to look for as many ways as possible.

"What's happening is that people are coming in to offer a service so that waiting lists can be kept down and patients can get the service that they deserve.

"We're not competing. It's a negotiated service between the two groups.

"The scanner here is different to the hospital's, it's a much higher resolution. 3T scanners can be used to provide added value to what can be produced in hospital. There may be particular kinds of scan that they need to see. This is not just about money, it's about making sure that the best facilities are available to local people.

"It would be a real shame if machines like this, which are paid for by taxpayers, weren't used by the people who originally paid for them if there's any spare capacity."

The university's scanner is also used for research purposes - but this is the first time it has been opened up to commercial use.

A 3T scanner has been shown to be particularly good at demonstrating small lesions within the brain and spinal chord, and imaging in joints.