A new £1.2m mobile MRI scanner is opening this month at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park providing valuable extra diagnostic provision within the City Region for private and NHS patients.

The scanner is operated by LivingCare, one of the largest sports imaging providers in the country, who have opened an office and clinic on the Park as part its strategic expansion plans.

The Canon Medical Systems MRI scanner is sited in the grounds of the English Institute of Sport (EISS) and will welcome its first patients mid February. It is hoped up to 200 people a week will have neurological and orthopaedic scans at the unit.

The results of an MRI scan can be used to help diagnose conditions, plan treatments and assess how effective previous treatment has been.

Luke Minshall, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at Leeds-based LivingCare, said: “We are genuinely proud to be in Sheffield and to be part of the exciting developments taking place this year on Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park.

“It is a unique and very special location and we are delighted to be able to offer first-class diagnostic scanning services to both private individuals and organisations – largely in the sports sector – and the NHS.

“We are the third largest provider of sports imaging in the country and having a base on Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park gives us an exciting opportunity to work more closely with the sporting network across South Yorkshire and the East Midlands.”

LivingCare already works with Premier League, Championship and other clubs across the English Football League as well as with governing bodies across a range of sports to provide elite external medical support.

Alongside private provision, the Canon Medical MRI scanner will also provide additional diagnostic scanning for the NHS in the region and support health and wellbeing research work already being carried out on the Park.

Luke added: “We aim to work with Sheffield Hallam University and local NHS Trusts around long COVID research programmes, as well as supporting the training of radiographers.

“As we become more established on the Park we hope we can develop partnerships with sports, healthcare and educational stakeholders based here along with the local sporting academies and future professional athletes.”

Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park was set up after the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to deliver whole population improvements in health and wellbeing. It is the only legacy park outside an Olympic host city anywhere in the world.

Bringing together expertise from academia, elite sport, the NHS, and public and private sector organisations, the Park is creating a cluster of life sciences assets including research centres, business incubators, educational facilities and laboratories for collaborative research and innovation in health and wellbeing.

Dr Chris Low, Chief Executive of Legacy Park Ltd, said: “We are delighted to welcome LivingCare as the latest fantastic addition to the range of innovative organisations at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park.

“LivingCare has a great track record in both the NHS and sport sectors and is ambitiously pursuing expansion into digital health innovation. Its arrival signals the start of the next phase of our development in 2022.”