The Royal United Hospital in Bath opened its £1.2 million Positron PET-CT cancer scanner for patients, officially unveiled by Mary Berry on Monday. The new, state-of-the-art scanner, which can be used in the detection and diagnosis of cancer and dementia, is due to take its first patient this week.

The Great British Bake Off host unveiled a plaque and praised the charity, the Bath Cancer Unit Supporters Group, which raised the money to buy it.

She said: “This is a very exciting moment for the RUH and its patients. It represents so much work by your members and the very many people who donated so generously.”

Consultant Radiologist, Richard Graham, said: “It means patients needing such a scan will no longer have to travel to Cheltenham, a long journey at a difficult and stressful time.

“It really is an amazing piece of equipment that allows us to give an even more accurate diagnosis of cancer and improved monitoring of patients’ ongoing treatment.”

Among the guests who met Mary Berry was Esther Simpson, who is walking proof of the scanner’s life-saving potential. A PET-CT scan eight years ago pin-pointed her primary cancer and allowed her to be

successfully treated.

She said: “I was thrilled to learn that the BCUSG had launched an appeal to raise the £1.2 million pounds needed to buy our very own PET-CT scanner for use at the RUH. The BCUSG have done so much for our Oncology Unit over the past 31 years. We are so lucky to have such wonderful support.”

The charity has raised almost all of the £1.3m required to purchase and equip the scanner. The RUH has investing a further £1.4m to cover the cost of installation.

The RUH is the first hospital in the South West to have such a purpose-built fixed scanner.