Thieves cause patient delays at mobile CT scanner

About 150 patients have had their appointments postponed after thieves stole copper cable from a mobile lung cancer CT scanner.

The Tees Valley screening programme uses the scanner to detect the disease in patients in the area, which has the highest rate of cases in the country.

Thieves have targeted the scanner - which has detected 460 cases of the disease - several times across Teesside and the service has had to be paused while repairs are carried out.

Jonathan Ferguson, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon with University Hospitals Tees, described the thieves as the ''the lowest of the low".

Across the country there has been 12 thefts of copper cables from CT scanners in the last year.

Ferguson said: ''People's medical care is being interrupted and it could be their own friends or relatives that are having their scans delayed."

He also said there had been several thefts across the Tees Valley area over the last year and he urged people '' not to nick the cables and not to buy them".

The screening programme invites past and current smokers - aged 55 to 74 - to mobile units which are usually based in supermarket or sport stadium car parks.

Since its launch in 2022, 460 lung cancers have been detected and 75% are at a potentially curable stage with surgery or stereotactic beam radiotherapy.

The value of metal has risen in recent years and criminals are increasingly targeting copper, stripping it from cables and railway power lines.

The mobile scanners have been successful because they are moved to different locations making it easier for people to access.

On average the CT scanners see up to 50 patients a day and plans to increase security are now being discussed.

Ferguson said appointments had been ''rescheduled as quickly as possible '' and he thanked patients for their understanding.

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