Another massive step in the right direction – the Community Diagnostic Centre earmarked for Plymouth’s West End has been awarded £24.788m of capital funding from NHS England.
Just weeks after announcing health facilities are back on the table for Colin Campbell Court, Councillor Mark Lowry announced to Cabinet that the money had also been secured.
He said: “This is epic news. The project now has the funding and we are cracking on with the job.
“The planning application for the temporary CT scanner and support facilities at Colin Campbell Court has been submitted and if approvals go according to plan, radiologists could be seeing patients by the end of September.
“This is a great temporary solution while the design and development of the permanent, larger CDC build continues and we are looking at an opening date of April 2025.
“This amazing progress would not have happened had we not been steadily working on health-led regeneration plans for Colin Campbell Court, acquiring properties, building partnerships, clearing the site and putting land in as our contribution.
“This not just great for the West End but it’s great news for the city centre, for residents who live here who will be able to access services more easily.”
While the temporary CT unit will be a modular facility allowing radiologists to detect disease or injury, the main CDC building will be over 3,000 sqm in size. Plymouth City Council has been working closely with University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust on the new facility which will provide outpatient diagnostic tests including MRI, CT, x-ray, lung cancer screening, ultrasound, audiology, ECG, point of care testing, and blood tests.
Stuart Windsor, Future Hospitals Director at University Hospitals Plymouth, said: “We know that access to good, early diagnostics is key because having those tests early and getting an early diagnosis means people have a greater chance of a better outcome when there is something wrong. This should reduce health inequities for those living in areas of greater deprivation and improve overall health outcomes in Plymouth.”
Heads of Terms for the temporary unit’s location on Colin Campbell Court have been agreed between the Council and UHP, and the permanent build site is being finalised with support from the council’s urban design and master-planning teams.
The city centre has the highest levels of deprivation in Plymouth and is one of the most deprived wards in the country. People living in St Peter and the Waterfront have a life expectancy of 77 years, roughly 7.5 years less than the least deprived area in the city.
The city centre has a mortality rate of 62.2 for cancer, CHD (coronary heart disease), COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and stroke and Stonehouse has a rate of 93 – the average across the city is much lower at 55.1.
Steve Hughes, chief executive of the Plymouth Centre Company, said: “This is fantastic news for the West End of the city centre. It is just what our businesses need to build on the work we have been doing over the last few years improving the area and finding new uses for empty units.
“There is a new belief amongst the mostly independent businesses but we need different kinds of employment, more housing and more visitors and customers.
“This development is the catalyst we need and we look forward to the work starting quickly.”