Lincolnshire CDCs select Canon’s reliable CT and ultrasound technology to enhance patient care
United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (ULTH) has equipped its three community diagnostics centres (CDC) in Lincoln, Skegness and Grantham with CT and ultrasound technology from Canon Medical Systems. Between them, the centres have received four Aquilion Prime SP CT systems and seven Aplio i-series Prism Edition ultrasound systems, that will be used to perform more than 100,000 CT scans and 130,000 ultrasound scans each year.
The CT systems use AI-powered automation, streamlining image acquisition and set-up protocols in real-time, including patient positioning and radiation dose. Canon says this has resulted in a reduction in scan time from approximately 15 minutes to eight or nine minutes. The imaging capability also allows for highly detailed visuals, leading to improved diagnostic accuracy and confidence.
ULTH CT lead Afra Sulfikher said: “Choosing the right CT scanners for our community diagnostic centres was a bit like picking the perfect family car. We needed something reliable, safe and comfortable for everyone – radiographers and our broad cohort of patients. The wide-open design of the new systems has been praised by patients who might otherwise be afraid of the confined space in the scanners.”
Built-in predictive maintenance features and remote diagnostic support and troubleshooting have ensured near-continuous uptime for the CT scanners, with most issues resolved overnight without requiring on-site intervention. The system’s seamless software upgrades enable clinicians to adopt new scanning techniques without any downtime.
Supported by the new equipment, lung cancer screening and rapid access angina clinics are two programmes demonstrating improvements in diagnostic speed and care delivery. In the lung cancer pathway, patients can be assessed in a community setting and, if needed, receive a chest x-ray the same day, which is reported immediately by advanced practitioners. Those requiring further evaluation are either booked for CT or offered same-day scanning. Rapid access angina clinics now offer same-day cardiac CT scans, following a clinical review by cardiology specialists and advanced clinical practitioners. Previously, patients would wait up to seven weeks for results.
In addition to CT, a range of ultrasound services are now available across the CDCs, including general medical, gynaecology, MSK and paediatric ultrasound.
Ultrasound modality lead Gemma Webb commented: “As we increase our capacity within the CDCs, we expect to conduct over 24,000 non-obstetric ultrasound scans in 2025 to 2026, an approximately 140 per cent increase on activity at the trust when compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuity and familiarity with the equipment is essential as our staff continue to rotate across all sites to manage demand. We need images to be consistent and of a high quality.”
The new ultrasound systems are playing a key role in enabling the trust to meet updated national guidelines for hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance and deliver on quality improvement targets. With the addition of the shear wave/liver analysis package in the Aplio i-series systems, the trust aims to ensure robust assessment of fibrotic livers and identify patients at risk of progression, enabling treatment pathways to be accelerated.
Lead picture: ULTH ultrasound modality lead Gemma Webb.
Read this report on page 8 of the February 2026 issue of RAD Magazine.
