Community Health Partnerships (CHP) primary care estate continues to support the national Community Diagnostic Centres (CDC) programme across its NHS LIFT buildings.
Since the start of the national programme in July 2021, which aims to support the backlog of elective care and provide quicker diagnostic services closer to home, CHP has been working collaboratively with local NHS teams to deliver CDC facilities across the LIFT portfolio.
Nationally there are 176 CDCs across England, in which 10 of these will be within the CHP estate, once complete.
The programme is transforming the delivery of diagnostic services. Recently NHSE announced that the NHS have delivered over 25 million potentially lifesaving tests, checks & scans in the last year.
To the end of August 2023, CHP’s operational CDC sites have delivered over 200,000 additional tests, checks and scans since the programme began.
Having early and quicker access to diagnostic tests, checks and scans, will reduce the time it takes for patients to be diagnosed and treated for serious conditions, which will vastly improve patient health outcomes.
CHP’s health estate has played a pivotal contribution in supporting the CDC programme.
CHP’s 308 LIFT buildings are considered NHS core assets, providing top quality facilities with no backlog maintenance, which can be easily reconfigured, repurposed and flexed. We have therefore been able to reconfigure and deliver space, at speed, to allow for the delivery of diagnostic appointments.
The successful delivery of these CDC’s has been through a culmination of partnership working, the provision of estate, as well as providing strategic support to local NHS teams.
The CDC at Finchley Memorial Hospital, was the first CDC set up within CHP’s portfolio and one of the first in England after the Covid-19 pandemic, officially becoming a CDC in August 2021.
The building was identified by the local ICS, due to its flexibility, allowing it to be opened quickly and cost-effectively.
As part of the CDC project, the site now benefits from a new state of the art MRI, which saw over 60,000 patients within the first year of opening.
In the Midlands, Washwood Heath Health Centre is another CDC site that was recently opened within the LIFT estate.
The £2.18 million project provides a range of diagnostic services including x-ray, MRI and ultrasound.
The x-ray suite will provide an additional 16,000 appointments a year, benefitting many local patients.
In addition to the opening of new CDC’s, there are sites within the CHP estate which already have the capability and facilities to deliver diagnostic care.
In the South, Fareham Community Hospital and Oak Park Community Clinic, both built on their existing infrastructure to deliver additional tests, checks and scans.
The sites deliver a range of services including, mammography, MRI, x-ray, ultrasound and physiological measurement services.
At present, there are over 300 clinical rooms across CHP 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.
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