A lack of funds could leave a new £1 million scanner at Airedale Hospital virtually unused.

Health chiefs at Airedale NHS Trust say that unless more funds are forthcoming the hospitals new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner will lie idle for most of the week.

Without adequate resources and training of staff the MRI machine -- due to be up and running this autumn -- will only be used for 12 hours a week, the operating time currently provided by a mobile scanner that visits the hospital every Friday.

The Steeton hospital currently has patients -- mainly with back complaints -- waiting up to 12-months for a scan.

The problem was highlighted in a report by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) published earlier this year.

Chief executive Robert Allen said: "We could have the nonsense situation where we have a state-of-the-art scanner that would operate for only half a day a week, which is both silly and unacceptable.

"We don't have a solution at the moment but we are working with our partners on that."

Director of planning and marketing Doug Farrow said: "Even if finance and resources are made available to us, I think we would have problems recruiting the staff to ensure that we do operate it more than 12 hours a week."

Mr Allen told trust board members on Wednesday that he had been in touch with colleagues at Airedale Primary Care Trust, which is now responsible for issuing most of the cash to the hospital trust since the dissolution of Bradford Health Authority and the formation of a new county-wide strategic health authority.

The hospital will also look to reduce demand by prioritising referrals and restricting access to the MRI until adequate staffing is available to meet demand.

Airedale's X-ray department is currently undergoing a £2.6million upgrade which will include upgrading the ageing equipment that has been in use at the hospital for the last 30 years.