A BRAND new bone scanner has been set up at a Blackpool hospital, ensuring that locals will have access to the most up-to-date osteoporosis technology in the UK.

The £60,000 scanner, which is only the second of its kind in the country, has just been installed in a completely refurbished bone densitometry unit at the South Shore Hospital on Stoneyhill Avenue.

The scanner will help immensely in the war against osteoporosis by detecting the debilitating disease its very earliest stages and enabling it to be effectively treated.

Osteoporosis affects one in every three women and one in every 12 men and can occur at any time. Younger women who have had an early menopause, anorexia or who over-exercise, are particularly vulnerable to this disease -- which thins and fractures bones leading to disability and even fatal complications in later life.

The NHS spends £5 million a day on hip fractures which could have been avoided -- which is why health professionals in Blackpool have made prevention a priority.

The new Delphi scanner has been funded by the Blackpool Primary Care Group, money from a rheumatology endowment fund and by the local branch of the National Osteoporosis Society (NOS).

Jean Marsh, who chairs the local branch of the NOS, is delighted at the way Blackpool has taken the lead nationally in developing such an important service.

She explained: "When we bought the first scanner eight years ago it was one of the first in the country. Osteoporosis was seen as a disease of the elderly. Now we know it affects people of every age and it seems all health professionals in the area are committed to prevention. That is so rewarding."

The growing awareness of the disease means increased referrals and demand for scanning but, as well as providing more information on bone density, the new scanner is so much faster that more patients can be seen.

Consultant rheumatologist Dr Ian Stewart explains: "The new machine can scan in 30 seconds and is more comfortable for our patients. It gives us such good quality images that it may well reduce the need for X-rays and unnecessary radiation."