Four in 10 NHS hospitals in England found to use outdated equipment in Lib Dem study

Party calls for urgent extra funding as it finds there are hundreds of old X-ray machines, CT scanners and radiotherapy machines in use

Four in 10 NHS hospitals in England are using outdated medical equipment including 37-year-old X-ray machines, according to research from the Lib Dems, who are calling for extra funding to replace outdated devices.

NHS hospitals are using hundreds of old X-ray machines, CT scanners and radiotherapy machines, with some dating back to the 1980s, according to research based on freedom of information requests to 69 hospital trusts. Of these, 41 said they had at least one X-ray machine that was more than 20 years old.