Four new life-saving medical screening hubs to open in the Midlands

A PA image of a blood test tube

Four new medical screening centres will open in the Midlands, in a bid to reduce diagnosis and treatment wait times.

Tens of thousands of patients in the region could have access to life-saving tests including MRI scans, CT scans, blood tests and cardiology appointments in just one visit.

The new community diagnostic centres will be based in Corby, Northampton, Mansfield and Telford and they are among 19 in total that will open across the country.

The new centres will provide a number of diagnostic tests, including:

  • MRI scans

  • CT scans

  • Ultrasound scans

  • Cardiology

  • X-rays

  • Blood tests

  • Respiratory checks

Once fully operational, the new centres will deliver an extra 261,076 tests, checks and scans a year. Diagnostic services, including cancer screening, were impacted by the pandemic.

The total number of operational CDCs across England stands at 92, of which 15 are based in the Midlands.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:

“Rapid diagnosis offers reassurance to patients, reduces waiting lists, and crucially saves lives.

“CDCs have been fundamental to this effort, delivering over 3 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.”

Tens of thousands of patients in the region could have access to life-saving tests Credit: ITV News Central

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 3 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.”

Dozens of new surgical spaces are also being created to bring down waiting times. An estimated 780,000 additional surgeries and outpatient appointments will be provided at 37 new surgical hubs, 10 expanded existing hubs and 81 new theatres across England.

12 of the new facilities are spoke sites, which deliver more diagnostic services in addition to a standard CDC.

The full list of approved CDCs is as follows:

  • North Bedfordshire CDC

  • North Bedfordshire (Lloyds Court) - spoke

  • North Bedfordshire CDC (Whitehouse Health Centre) - spoke

  • Thurrock CDC (Braintree) - spoke

  • Queen Mary's Hospital Roehampton CDC (New Addington) - spoke

  • Northamptonshire CDC

  • Northamptonshire CDC (Kings Heath) - spoke

  • Mansfield CDC

  • Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin CDC

  • ICP North CDC (Metrocentre)

  • North Cumbria CDC

  • Warrington and Halton CDC (Shopping City) - spoke

  • Clatterbridge Diagnostics CDC (Liverpool City) - spoke

  • Lymington New Forest Hospital CDC (South Hants) - spoke

  • Crawley Collaborative CDC (Caterham Dene) - spoke

  • Bexhill Community CDC (Hastings) - spoke

  • CDC Poole@Dorset Health Village Hub

  • CDC@Dorset Health Village (Weymouth) - spoke

  • CDC@Dorset Health Village (Boscombe AECC) - spoke