Tilbury Douglas, a construction and infrastructure company, has broken ground on a £14m PET-CT scanner facility at Singleton Hospital.
“This project is another chapter in that shared journey of delivering vital healthcare facilities across the region,” said Chris Edmonds, Regional Wales Director at Tilbury Douglas.
Developed on behalf of Swansea Bay University Health Board, the facility will be the first permanent PET-CT facility in South West Wales once it is completed.
The hospital first began to have highly specialised PET-CT scanners in 2020, which allowed people from the Swansea Bay and Hywel Dda areas to avoid having to travel to Cardiff for scans.
However, the current scanner is on a mobile unit, which is limited in the range of services and operating days.
“For the first time we will be able to do paediatric PET scanning. We will be able to do scanning under general anaesthetic. We will be able to do brain scanning, which we are not able to do at the moment,” said Neil Hartman, Head of Nuclear Medicine at Swansea Bay. “And we will be able to do seven days a week scanning, if we so wish, something else we cannot do at the moment.”
The build is expected to take until the autumn of next year to complete, with the first patients expected to be scanned at the new facility in early 2027.
The 330 sqm single-storey building will feature a PET-CT scanner room, six uptake rooms, supporting clinical spaces, waiting areas, and staff accommodation.
The new facility is expected to bring real benefits to patients, families and staff for many years to come, contributing to improved patient care and supporting clinical excellence in the region.
All of these components will be developed to meet full Radiation Protection Advisory (RPA) standards.
A lightweight link corridor and Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) enclosure will ensure seamless integration with the existing oncology department, alongside targeted refurbishment and upgrades from M&E.
Capital funding for the project was provided by the Welsh Government under its all-Wales PET-CT programme.
The programme aims to develop four static PET-CT scanners across Wales within the next 10 years.
The Singleton facility is one of several healthcare projects currently being delivered by Tilbury Douglas.
The company is on track to complete its £16m Integrated Care Centre in Trowbridge by year-end, and earlier this month marked the completion of the steel frame for the Newgate Street Health & Wellbeing Hub.