People across Hampshire will see improved access to help diagnose life-threatening conditions such as cancer and heart problems faster, thanks to new funding for community diagnostic centres.
The creation of new and expanded community diagnostic centres (CDCs) which will help to reduce how long local people are waiting to access vital tests, scans and checks. These centres are based in easy reach of their local communities and many services will be open 7 days a week.
The three community diagnostic centres across Hampshire are:
- Andover Community Diagnostic Centre which will open its doors from early 2023. The centre, run by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will be created from a £4.7m investment to expand community diagnostic services, reducing the need for local people to travel to Basingstoke or Winchester hospitals for care. The centre will add an MRI to the existing CT scanner, develop an ultrasound hub and offer increased x-ray capacity.
- The Community Diagnostic Centre at St Mary’s Community Health Campus in Milton, Portsmouth. Led by Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, the CDC offers testing facilities including mammograms, blood tests, ultrasounds and heart monitoring. There are also satellite sites at Fareham Community Hospital in Sarisbury Green and Oak Park Community Clinic, Havant.
- The CDC in Southampton & the New Forest is provided in partnership by three NHS Trusts (University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Solent NHS Trust and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust). The main (and largest) CDC is located at Lymington New Forest Hospital. There will also be one standard CDC at the Royal South Hants Hospital (RSH) and two smaller hubs at Hythe Hospital and Romsey Community Hospital. Between them the CDCs provide a range of planned tests to help reduce pressure on local acute hospitals.
The diagnostic centres will also support the local workforce offering new recruitment opportunities as well as expanding the skills of the existing workforce through ongoing training.
All of the services across the different sites can be accessed via GP surgeries.
Maggie McIsaac, chief Executive of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, said:
“This funding for four new local diagnostic centres is fantastic news for patients across Hampshire and Isle of Wight. People can expect to see speedier access to vital tests and scans in more convenient locations often closer to home. This will also lead to faster diagnosis and treatment for patients accessing these services, ensuring people receive the care they need sooner.
“This is part of a wide range of measures we’re putting in place to help ease pressure on our hospitals by ensuring people don’t have to endure long waits for routine checks whilst also offering important training and development opportunities for our staff.”
Alex Whitfield, Chief Executive of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to be investing millions of pounds into the care and services we provide from Andover War Memorial Hospital.
“The Andover Community Diagnostic Centre will increase our diagnostic services outside of a busy acute hospital setting, allowing us to diagnose and treat patients faster and reduce waiting times. The centre will also help us to better train and support our expert staff to ensure we can deliver the best possible care to our community.
“I know I speak on behalf of the entire team when I say we are incredibly excited for the new centre to open its doors from 2023 and are grateful to our maternity colleagues who have been so flexible in moving their services to allow this development to happen.”
Rachel Anderson, Clinical Director, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We are delighted to be providing one of the first Community Diagnostic Centres in the UK. CDCs represent a very important development for our local communities across Hampshire. The Hubs will improve access to diagnostic tests, meaning patients will receive care faster and closer to home, and will help diagnose health conditions earlier, quicker, and more accurately.
“Delivering the CDC with our NHS partners means that the links between all of our services have strengthened and grown, helping us to deliver more joined up care.”
Chris Evans, Chief Operating Officer at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU), said:
‘We are really excited about the development of our community diagnostic programme. It means more accessible and convenient services for our patients, it will help us to improve outcomes for people with cancer and other serious conditions while avoiding people having to come to hospital.’
The two existing diagnostic centres at Portsmouth and Southampton / Lymington have so far helped to deliver just short of 400,000 additional tests as part of the Southeast region.
The funding for new and expanded CDCs across our communities follows on from £48 million new national funding for the Isle of Wight and £58 million for a new Emergency Department (ED) at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth. The investment into the Isle of Wight will refurbish St Mary’s Hospital creating a new Emergency Care Floor, reconfigure wards, and deliver a new High Dependency Unit. As well as creating a new mental health and community hub in Newport and investment into digital technology to improve patient and staff experience. Building works will start in November. Building work on the new Queen Alexandra ED in Portsmouth will begin later this month, with a planned opening date of Winter 2024.