Accelerating care for patients with a Community Diagnostic Centre
The Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) welcomed its first patients on 15th August 2022 as part of the first phase of the CDC project.
The centre, which will serve the Warwickshire North population, joins a network of over 90 CDCs already open across England together delivering over 1.5 million checks – including over 700,000 additional CT, MRI, ultrasound, endoscopy and ultrasound tests.
Why change was needed
The new centre forms part of the NHS England’s core delivery plan for tackling delays in elective care disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, putting a big emphasis on increasing health service capacity by focus on diagnosis and treatment.
What we did
The new centre brings together new state-of-the-art x-ray and ultrasound services alongside cardiac and respiratory diagnostic services in its first phase in a purpose-built environment with patients being referred through local health providers.
It is estimated that more than 12,000 x-ray patients from across Warwickshire North will be cared for in the new centre within the first year alone, alongside more than 6,000 ultrasound appointments.
The centre will also enable cardiac and respiratory diagnostics to be carried out in a safe and effective way through a purpose-built environment, something which has not been possible during the pandemic in the Trusts current setting due to the nature of these tests.
Glen Burley, Chief Executive Officer of George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, said: “We are proud to be able to be able to provide our essential services to our community in this new centre.
“Ultimately this will improve the experience of thousands of patients every day as they get easy, direct access to state of the art healthcare.
“Each patient will be seen within a set appointment time of just a few minutes and away from the main hospital, bringing more efficient, industry leading services close to them.”
Dr Catherine Free, Chief Medical Officer at George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, explained the benefits of the opening to the CDC: “This new centre will not only make services more convenient for patients but will also help improve outcomes for patients with cancer and other serious conditions.
“By putting X-rays, scans and other tests for a large range of conditions in the same location we can begin to provide a one-stop service for patients to improve patient experience and reduce the time people wait between appointments.
“The need for tests to help diagnose and treat patients is forecast to increase so we need to ensure we have the right facilities to meet the demand.”
What's next?
We are now moving into the second phase of the project, which will bring CT and MRI scans and all the tests for cancer under one roof, improving outcomes for patients with cancer and other serious conditions.