THE Prime Minister has described Hexham General Hospital as an "amazing model of how to do things and how to get things right."

Boris Johnson visted Hexham as £284m investment is announced for the NHS. Technology to modernise diagnostics and help tackle patient waiting lists is to be rolled out over the next year.

The PM was interviewed by Courant reporter Georgia Langdon. He said: "The cash is going into hospitals across the country to pay for more diagnostics.

“The reason we picked Hexham is because it’s an amazing model of how to do things and how to get things right. They run an amazing operation here.

“You can literally have your knee, or your hip done and then on the same day, you can be back at home. This has massive advantages – it means you’re much less likely to get infection but it also means you have less pressure on the hospital system overall.

“We’re looking at Hexham and trying to see ways in which we can encourage other trusts and other hospitals across the country to think like this and to work like this.

“An important element in reducing delays is scanning and screening. To give a better NHS, to give people a better experience, to save time, you’ve got to invest in better diagnostics.

“But if you really want to protect the NHS, you don’t just do what Hexham is doing or invest in diagnostics, you’ve got to get jabbed."

44 new, community diagnostic hubs have been set up.

The PM was not yet sure how much funding would directly benefit Hexham.

Boris Johnson also saw the hospital's new CT scanner and met staff receiving their booster jab as the 10m milestone was marked yesterday (Sunday).