THE road outside Poole Hospital will be closed overnight on Saturday while a crane removes a large magnet from an MRI scanner.

Part of Longfleet Road will be shut from 9pm until 6am while the removal takes place.

One of the hospital's MRI scanners is being updated with a new magnet that will reduce service costs and improve patients' experience during a scan.

The machine's old magnet will be lifted out of the hospital's MRI department by crane as it is too large to be removed through the corridors of the hospital.

Access to the ramp and emergency department will be unaffected, but there will be no access to the main entrance from 12pm-2am while the magnet is removed.

All other areas of the hospital will be unaffected.

The new magnet will arrive on February 16 and, as it is smaller than the current one, it will be delivered through the building, rather than by crane, and there will be no road closure for this part of the installation.

The MRI department will have two rather than three operational scanners until April 2019 but the same number of patients will still be accommodated during this time, a Poole Hospital spokesperson said.

"The magnet is part of a new MRI system released earlier this year which will be installed on the scanner. The new scanner utilises low helium technology and uses only seven litres of liquid helium instead of the 1,500 litres, making the magnet lighter and also reducing servicing costs," they added.

It will have enhanced features that will make it more patient friendly including the ability to watch a film or a TV show or listen to music during a scan. Scans will also be a quicker for some procedures.