A new ‘one stop shop’ offering NHS diagnostic tests, scans and checks closer to home is to be opened at Congleton War Memorial Hospital next year. This move follows news that East Cheshire NHS Trust has been awarded £5million from the NHS England community diagnostics programme fund to re-engineer and expand an existing facility owned by the Trust on the Congleton War Memorial Hospital site.
The new centre will provide multiple additional diagnostic screening rooms in addition to associated patient waiting facilities, toilets and other amenities. Diagnostics services delivered from this centre will focus on Imaging; X-ray and Non-Obstetric Ultrasound (NOUS); and Cardio-Respiratory physiological testing such as Electrocardiography (ECG), Echocardiograms and other physiological tests.
Services will also include some tests and studies that can be taken away and performed from patients’ homes. Further diagnostic testing potential from this site will be developed over time.
Diagnostics are tests or procedures used to identify a patient’s disease or condition. Finding out what is wrong with a patient is vital to treating them. According to NHS England, more than 85 per cent of patients seeking NHS care require diagnostics. Prompt diagnosis can save lives and drastically improve patient outcomes.
Simon Goff, Chief Operating Officer at East Cheshire NHS Trust said; “We are delighted to have been allocated the funding to enable us to progress these plans.
“This exciting development will future-proof our services and allow us to provide localised diagnostics care where appropriate, reducing attendances and potentially admissions to an acute hospital setting.
“The proposed diagnostics centre will also support a reduction in waiting times to improve early detection and diagnosis across a variety of health conditions. It will be a fantastic addition for our local communities to support patient treatment and care.”
Dr Michael Gregory, Regional Medical Director for NHS England, North West said: “The announcement of a new community diagnostics centre at Congleton War Memorial Hospital is fantastic news, and will play a major role in making potentially life-saving diagnostic tests more easily accessible for people in East Cheshire.
“The additional tests this new CDC will carry out will help to bring waiting times down, so that people can get the diagnosis, and treatment if they need it, sooner.”
Planning permission is due to be submitted to Cheshire East Council in October and work is hoped to start in winter 2023 with completion by Autumn 2024.
This announcement is combined with news of four new ‘one stop shops’ for testing to open in England, joining the existing 118 centres already operating in local communities across the country.
ENDS
Notes for editors
Community Diagnostic Centres offer easier, faster, and more direct access to a range of tests including MRIs and CT scans once referred by their GP. Congleton’s Diagnostic Centres will achieve:
- a reduction in hospital visits which will help to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19
- a contribution to the NHS’ ambitions to cut carbon emissions and air pollution by providing multiple tests at one visit – reducing the number of patient journeys.
- Community diagnostic centres are one of the recommendations from Professor Sir Mike Richards, the first NHS National Cancer Director, who conducted a review of diagnostic services as part of the NHS Long Term Plan, published in 2019.
The four new community diagnostic centres are:
- Thanet spoke CDC
- Salisbury spoke CDC
- West Swindon spoke CDC
- Congleton War Memorial spoke CDC
For further information about East Cheshire NHS Trust, contact the trust press office on 01625 663935 between 9am – 5pm, Monday – Friday.
- East Cheshire NHS Trust is the main provider of acute and community health services for the people of East Cheshire. The trust is based at Macclesfield District General Hospital.
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