The national Community Diagnostics Centres (CDC) Programme continues to progress across the country.
The government has committed £2.3 billion of capital funding over three years to transform diagnostics, including the roll-out of CDCs with the expectation that they will increase elective diagnostic provision across systems.
The creation of CDCs across England will allow patients to access diagnostic services closer to home, without the need to travel to their local acute hospital. As a key part of the elective care pathway, access to early diagnostic tests will reduce the time it takes patients to be diagnosed and treated for serious conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, improving patient outcomes.
NHSE have approved 176 CDCs across England, 10 are within CHP’s LIFT estate, of which 8 are already operational.
In CHP’s South region, both Fareham Community Hospital, in Southampton and Oak Park Community Clinic in Havant form part of the national programme. Both sites have built on their existing capability to deliver a range of diagnostic services.
At Oak Park a number of services including ultrasound, mammography, neurophysiology and ophthalmology are already being delivered.
The recent addition of a new mammography suite at Oak Park means patients can now attend their appointments in a new, fit for purpose facility, which was previously being delivered from a mobile unit, once situated in the local supermarket car park. The new suite has improved utilisation and eliminated void space already paid for by NHS systems, providing greater value for the NHS and taxpayers’ money.
At Fareham Community Hospital, a number of diagnostics services are being delivered, including a mobile MRI, x-ray, ultrasound and other physiological measurement services.
In March 2022, a new chemotherapy unit was opened, in which the £147k project was jointly funded by CHP and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU).
In supporting our NHS partners’ goal to improve patient outcomes, CHP worked closely with LIFTCo, Solent Estates Partnership and PHU, to reconfigure space and accommodate a ten-station unit, which offers up to 375 hours of treatment time per year, helping with the growing demand and providing a better patient experience.
In further supporting the CDC Programme in the South, CHP’s CDC Project Manager Lisa Brettelle, continues to work collaboratively with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust to identify opportunities where space can be reconfigured to deliver diagnostic care.
“As an NHS company, CHP’s estate of over 300 LIFT buildings are considered NHS core assets and therefore provide a ready-made solution for CDCs in many places. We have accessible and flexible, top-quality buildings with no backlog maintenance issues, which can be effectively repurposed and flexed to accommodate different CDC operating models, enabling CDCs and other diagnostics to be delivered quickly to meet local health needs. The delivery of Fareham and Oak Park CDCs have been a testament to this. We look forward to continuing to work closely with our NHS partners and stakeholders to support the delivery of diagnostic services nationally.”
“By working together with our NHS partners we have been able to support in the delivery of a range of diagnostic services supporting the National CDC programme. The chemotherapy unit at Fareham Community Hospital is a great example of reconfiguration of previously vacant space into a much-needed service that will help reduce hospital numbers, aswell as making the patient experience more accessible and convenient.”
“Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) have been working collaboratively with CHP since 2021 in the development of Community Diagnostic Centres at Oak Park Community Clinic in Havant and Fareham Community Hospital. Current CDC services include mammography, neurophysiology, ultrasound, mobile MRI and ophthalmology. The Trust has developed an excellent relationship with colleagues from Community Health Partnerships (CHP) in helping to deliver two very complex projects which are bringing diagnostic services closer to local communities. We look forward to continuing to work closely with CHP in the future.’’
Currently CHP has over 300 clinical rooms across the LIFT estate that already have the capability to accommodate specialist diagnostic services, with a small number of vacant rooms which can be quickly converted to deliver such specialist services.
If you would like to discuss whether CHP can support you in your diagnostic delivery ambitions, you can find out more and get in touch here
Find out more about delivering a Community Diagnostic Centre in an existing core asset.
Contact the CHP CDC team.
