Plans unveiled for major new-build diagnostic centre in Corby as part of biggest single investment in town’s healthcare in a decade

The new Corby Community Diagnostic Centre will be built alongside the Willow Brook Health Complex. Image: KGH / AECOM

The first plans for an £8m modular building to allow people to have vital scans in Corby can be revealed today.

The new Corby Community Diagnostic Centre on a piece of undeveloped land at the north east of the Willow Brook Health Complex will feature a CT scanner, an MRI and ultrasound facilities.

It will help people, particularly those with cancer, to access quicker diagnostic scans closer to their home. They will also have access to one-stop, multi-disciplinary medical teams at the site meaning they will need fewer trips for hospitals in other towns.

What one of the consulting rooms could look like. Image: KGH / AECOM

It’s expected the centre will increase the local testing capacity by 80,000 each year.

A new, separate vehicular access to the site will be created in Willow Brook Road as well as 39 car parking spaces.

The facility will be run by Kettering General Hospital. It will be funded by an £8.32 capital grant from the Government that was announced back in June to help speed-up waiting times for diagnostic scans.

The site is expected to be open 12-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week and the first patients could be scanned as soon as next summer.

The plans include 44 new trees to replace mature trees that could be lost as part of the application. Image: KGH / AECOM

Planning documents submitted to North Northamptonshire Council state: “Corby residents are known to have poorer life expectancy and later presentations for conditions related to lung and other cancers.

"Through quicker diagnostics and easier patient access to these services at times and location more suitable to them, it will deliver improved health outcomes for one of our more deprived communities.

"Making these diagnostic services accessible by foot and public transport will also reduce inequalities within the local community where people currently struggle to

access services based in Kettering.”

The new site will have an access off Willow Brook Road. Image: KGH / AECOM

The minor injuries unit was the last major development on the site which opened in 2012. It has been a huge success and has diverted thousands of patients from Kettering’s under-pressure A&E department each year.

Already on the same site are the existing Willowbrook Health Centre, Bupa Dental Care, Corby Urgent Care Centre, Lakeside Healthcare, physio and Boots pharmacy.

Some trees will be lost during the development of the site although the design hopes to mitigate this with the planting of 44 new trees.

You can view the plans and comment on them here.