Plymouth has been announced as a site for one of eight new Community Diagnostic Centres due to open. The new Diagnostic Centre will be located in Plymouth’s West End, helping regenerate the city centre and provide wider access to critical diagnostic tests.
Plymouth City Council has been working closely with University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and the new facility will provide outpatient diagnostic tests including MRI, CT, x-ray, lung cancer screening, ultrasound, audiology, ECG, point of care testing, and blood tests. More services could be added to this list in the future.
The organisations have been collaborating closely on the scheme and have welcomed today’s Government announcement that Plymouth is to become home to one of the new Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs). It is hoped the new Centre will offer 91,600 imaging tests, alongside a similar number of other tests, when services are live and fully running and the Centre is expected to start offering some tests from as early as September 2023.
While the proposed centre will not be as large as the original planned community health hub the initial preparation and groundwork carried out for the now stalled Cavell Centre or health hub means that the scheme can get off to a flying start.
Councillor Mark Lowry, Cabinet member for Finance said: “On the first day of our administration we submitted our application for this project and from that moment we have worked non-stop to get this project back on track. Clearly this is great news for the city centre and for the health of our residents.
“We have been working on health-led regeneration scheme on this site since 2018 and while there have been set backs, this deal has been made possible because of all the work that has gone on in the background, the initial demand studies, building partnerships, clearing the site and putting the land in as our contribution.
“Not only will this ease the pressure off services at Derriford, it will increase the number of people in and around the West End, supercharge the regeneration of this part of the city centre and vitally, will mean it is easier for people living nearby to access services more easily.”
The city centre population has the highest levels of deprivation in Plymouth and is one of the most deprived wards in the country. The immediate location of the proposed centre is in a highly deprived area. People living in St Peter and the Waterfront have a life expectancy of 77 years, which is 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.
Stuart Windsor, Future Hospitals Director at University Hospitals Plymouth, explained how one of the aims is to improve the health of Plymouth people, particularly those living in the city centre.
“The location in the city’s West End, one of the more deprived areas of Plymouth, is key as it means we can offer high quality diagnostics tests to people close to where they live, making it easier for them to attend appointments. 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 therefore reduce health inequities for those living in areas of greater deprivation and improve overall health outcomes in Plymouth.”
A joint team is now working on implementing the design for the centre and constructing it. The land is currently owned by the Council and the site for the proposed building has already been cleared, helping to speed up the development.
While the design and planning process is progressing, plans are in train to host a temporary mobile scanning unit on the site to enable people living in or near the city centre to use facilities closer to their homes as soon as possible.