Jack Brereton MP has welcomed the news that Stoke-on-Trent will benefit from a new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) opening this year.
Stoke-on-Trent CDC will increase diagnostic capacity and reduce waiting times. Once operational, it will deliver up to 85,000 checks, tests and scans a year, tailored to meet the needs of patients.
The facility will specialise in CT, MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, endoscopy, phlebotomy, respiratory, cardiology and sleep studies tests and scans.
This is one of 13 newly announced sites opening across the country, with the Government investing £2.3 billion to deliver up to 160 CDCs across England by 2025.
Jack Brereton MP said:
“It is fantastic to hear that Stoke-on-Trent’s new Community Diagnostic Centre will be opening to patients by the end of the year and this is exactly the sort of new NHS facility we need locally.
This new facility will offer a higher number of scans and tests for patients in North Staffordshire, helping reduce the pressure especially on the Royal Stoke. I commend the work of our local NHS in quickly progressing this new facility, which will ensure doctors and nurses can prioritise workloads more easily and ensure patients gain access to a range of tests much more quickly.
This fantastic new facility will make it easier for people across Stoke-on-Trent to access NHS services, ensuring that people are receiving the highest standard of care as and when they need it the most.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:
“We must use every tool at our disposal to deliver life-saving checks that can unlock spare capacity, to ease pressure on the NHS.
“By making use of the independent sector, we can offer patients a wider choice, diagnose major illnesses quicker and start treatments sooner.
“The Elective Recovery Taskforce will boost these efforts while cutting waiting lists – one of the government’s five priorities.”
Health Minister and Elective Recovery Taskforce Chair Will Quince said:
“We have already made significant progress in bringing down waiting lists, with 18 month waits virtually eliminated.
“I chaired the Elective Recovery Taskforce to turbocharge these efforts and help patients get the treatment they need.
“These actions will bolster capacity across the country and give patients more choice over where and when they are treated.”
NHS England National Clinical Director for Elective Care, Stella Vig, said:
"Hardworking staff across the NHS have made significant progress towards recovering elective care, and it is testament to their efforts that widespread innovative measures are already being rolled out to transform our services and bring down the longest waits for patients.
“Alongside this, we have increased our use of the independent sector by more than a third since April 2021 – carrying out 90,000 appointments and procedures and more than 10,000 diagnostic tests every week - and independent providers will continue to play a key role as we work towards the next milestone in our recovery plan, as well as the additional one stop shops announced today as part of NHS England's rollout of community diagnostic centres.
As this report details, we have already made significant progress in this area, including operating mutual aid systems across both the NHS and independent sector, and by expanding My Planned Care to make it easier for patients to choose where they receive care."
Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said:
“We are advocates of patients having choice and welcome today’s announcement. In particular, the news that GPs will tell patients, at the point of referral, of options for treatment other than the local hospital or clinic.
Patients in England already have a right to choose where they are treated but not all patients are aware of this right or exercise it. Our expectation is that once GPs offer patients a choice of where to receive treatment, more and more patients will choose to travel further to receive treatment if that means shorter waits.”
Justin Ash, CEO of Spire Healthcare said:
“The best way to cut waiting times for patients is for the independent sector to be fully integrated as part of the solution, and to offer patient choice. We welcome the Elective Recovery Taskforce’s recognition of this and are pleased that it has recommended some bold and far-reaching steps to encourage collaboration, promote patient choice and engage the independent sector to help deliver the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.
The Taskforce’s work will genuinely benefit patients, who’ll be able to choose where they can receive treatment most quickly, regardless of whether that’s at an NHS or an independent sector hospital.”
David Hare, Chief Executive of IHPN, who sat on the Taskforce, said:
“The publication of this report is good news for patients. This is a real, significant step forward to unlocking more of the capital, capacity and capability of the independent sector.
“Today’s report builds on the Prime Minister’s recent welcome announcements about how the government is committed to providing patients with better choice over who provides their NHS care, as well as positive changes in how services are procured, which can help add overall capacity and speed up waiting times for NHS patients.
“The report’s commitment to open further independent sector-led Community Diagnostic Centres is also good news for patients, deploying some of the private capital that is available to build new facilities and to help ensure that more NHS patients can get the tests and scans that they need.”
There are currently 114 CDCs open across the country, which have delivered an additional 4.6 million tests, checks and scans since July 2021. Significant progress has already been made to cut waiting lists, with 18-month and two-year waits virtually eliminated.
