Corby to get new community diagnostic centre promising an extra 61,330 tests, checks and scans a year

Corby residents have been promised quicker access to tests and treatments with the creation of a new community diagnostic centre.

The medical one-stop-shop will be based in Cottingham Road to help patients receive quicker access to treatment and life-saving diagnostic tests.

Out of the 19 facilities opening across the country two are based in Northamptonshire, one in Corby the other in Northampton.

MP for Corby Tom Pursglove welcomed the announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care.

He said: “Great news. The Government has announced that Corby will get a new community diagnostic centre (CDC) down at the Cottingham Road Lakeside complex, providing local people with quicker access to health services closer to home.

“This will be one of 19 new CDCs announced to boost capacity by the end of this year.

“Once fully operational, the new centre will deliver an extra 61,330 tests, checks and scans a year.

“This is another important investment in our local NHS to help boost capacity and one I really welcome, having been pressing for additional resource.”

The new centre will provide a number of diagnostic functions, including MRI scans, CT scans, ultrasound scans, cardiology, X-rays, blood tests and respiratory checks.

CDCs in the Midlands region have already delivered more than 624,000 tests, checks and scans across the country since July 2021.

The government’s intention to open up to 160 CDCs to perform up to 9 million additional tests a year by 2025 to reduce NHS waiting lists and tackle backlogs in the NHS and social care.

Backed by £2.3 billion in government funding, CDCs are based in ‘convenient’ locations such as shopping centres and football stadiums.

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.”

NHS national sirector 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.”