New county diagnostics centre will help save lives and cut waiting lists, says Health Secretary
A new diagnostics centre for the county will reduce waiting lists and save lives, according to the Health Secretary.
The government has funded a programme of the community diagnostics centres (CDC) across the country, with one currently being set up in Telford.
The site, at Hollinswood House on Stafford Park, near to Telford Town Centre, is expected to open in the summer according to the latest update from county health bosses.
It is one of 19 new centres across the country – with 92 others already operational.
The idea behind the centres is to ease the pressure on hospital waiting lists by taking on a number of non-urgent tests.
They include echocardiograms, lung functioning tests, basic sleep studies, and long Covid clinics, along with CT scans, non-obstetric ultrasound scans, X-rays, ECGs (electrocardiograms), and blood tests.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said the units would make a significant difference to the service people receive – adding that those already operating across the country had carried out more than three million tests.
He said: "Rapid diagnosis offers reassurance to patients, reduces waiting lists, and crucially saves lives.
"CDCs have been fundamental to this effort, delivering over three million extra tests which are helping to diagnose conditions from cancer to lung disease more quickly across the country.
"The new centres will take us even further, utilising cutting-edge MRI, CT and X-ray machine to transform the way we deliver care closer to people’s homes helping tens of thousands of people."
NHS National Director of Elective Recovery, Sir James Mackey, said: "The NHS’s ambitious elective recovery plan, published just over a year ago, had these innovative ‘one stop shops’ at its heart.
"Since then they have played a key role in helping us virtually eliminate the number of people waiting more than two years for treatment and keeping the NHS on track to do the same for people waiting over 18 months by the end of April, with the centres – often based in convenient places such as in shopping centres, high streets and community hospitals - now having delivered an incredible three million tests and checks.
“These 19 new centres will boost access for tens of thousands more patients and build on the great work of NHS staff in recovering services, helping the NHS deliver an extra 9 million tests a year by 2025 – an increase in capacity of more than a quarter on pre-pandemic levels.”
The most recent update from NHS Shropshire, Telford, and Wrekin, said: "Shropshire’s first Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) is on track to open its doors to patients in the summer.
"The new centre, located in Telford, will see elective diagnostic tests delivered away from the acute hospital sites and separately from urgent diagnostic scans.
"It will reduce waiting times for non-urgent tests and reduce the risk of cancellation, improving patient experience and outcomes, whilst at the same time bring more capacity into the system to reduce pressure on other services."
It added: "The centre will be sited at Hollinswood House in Telford, which is currently undergoing a complete interior redesign to ensure it is fit for purpose and able to accommodate future demand."
NHS Shropshire, Telford, and Wrekin has said it eventually wants the centres across the county.
A spokesman said: "Our ambition is to see services provided in all corners of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. This could mean a new CDC in the south of Shropshire (maybe in Ludlow), one in the north (in Whitchurch or Oswestry) and one in the county town of Shrewsbury."
