A LIFESAVING £2.5million cancer scanner which has stood idle for two years because of a dispute over where it should be based is finally being switched on.

The Echo has campaigned to get the new PET-CT scanner - which uses dye to locate cancer - working since it was installed at Southend Hospital by a private company in 2014.

A row has raged on over whether the state-of-the-art equipment should be used at Southend or moved to Basildon Hospital.

Thurrock Council even referred the matter to the Secretary of State, with concerns patients in its borough would have to far to travel.

The whole time, the scanner has remained mothballed.

NHS England, which already runs a scanning service at Basildon, has now decided to temporarily put the scanner into use at Southend - where there is a radiotherapy and cancer treatment centre - from December.

It will operate twice a week, scanning 18 patients each day.

It means a service will be available at both hospitals until a final decision is made.

In a briefing note, a spokesman for the organisation said: “We believe that we have looked closely at the implications of a continued delay on patients and have listened to the concerns raised.

“The further delay is causing us concern as demand for the service has grown at a much greater rate than expected.”

The briefing added: “As we do not want patients’ diagnoses and treatment to be delayed, we have asked the provider to develop a temporary solution to increase the capacity of the service that takes into account the concerns of local people.

“This will enable us to meet the rising demand for the service while we respond to the issues raised by the Thurrock scrutiny committee.

Lindsey Summerhayes, 54, of Woodfield Road, Hadleigh, who is currently in remission for breast cancer, welcomed the news.

She said: “That is brilliant to hear. It is going to make a huge difference.

“It will make detection of cancer a lot easier, and the quicker you can catch it the better.

“Noone wants to hear they have cancer, but this machine would help speed up diagnoses.

“It is terrible that it has been sitting in a corridor taking up space and money for so long without being used.”

Southend Hospital chief executive Sue Hardy added: “We are pleased that this interim solution has been agreed by NHS England. This temporary arrangement will benefit patients across south Essex by enabling both Southend and Basildon hospitals to meet the rising demand and reduce delays to patients’ diagnosis and treatment.”