The neonatal unit at Royal Preston Hospital now has the use of a state-of-the-art heart scanner.

The probe is in place at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals thanks to a £4,300 award from The Fort Foundation to Baby Beat, the charity that supports babies and mothers being cared for at RPH and Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.

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The device, which enables staff to source better quality images, also allows staff to share the images with specialists at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

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Raju Narasimhan, Consultant Neonatologist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are so grateful to The Fort Foundation for their grant to Baby Beat which will enable us to use this incredible piece of equipment on Royal Preston Hospital’s neonatal unit.

“It means we can carry out exceptionally high-quality scans and reduce the risk of a sick baby being moved to a specialist hospital further away from their family.

“Approximately, we do about 100-150 heart scans on term infants on the neonatal unit, and the new probe will allow us to scan these babies and share them with other specialists to determine the best route of care.”

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Donor The Fort Foundation is a Trust formed by Ted Fort and his company Fort Vale Engineering based in Simonstone near Burnley.

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What do you think about the generous heart scanner donation? Tell us in the comments below.