Prime minister Tony Blair today visited the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and toured some of the most hi-tech clinical areas of the £229 million state-of-the-art medical complex.

The Prime Minister was shown the hospital's pioneering £10 million digital x-ray system which has done away with the need for old-fashioned x-ray film and allows x-ray, CT and MRI images to be sent electronically to doctors within seconds.

Mr Blair was also shown the hospital's 10-bed Coronary Care Unit, which has some of the most up-to-date equipment in the country. At the end of his tour Mr Blair met 50 staff in a question and answer session and then laid a time capsule containing items marking 50 years of the NHS in the hospital's East Atrium.

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital was voted one of the country's top 40 Hospitals by health data analysts CHKS in April 2002 and in September 2001 the Department of Health gave the trust its highest possible ranking of three stars.