Lucy Allan MP has welcomed the news that a new Community Diagnostic Centre will be established at the Princess Royal Hospital to tackle the backlog in elective surgery and to increase diagnostic capacity across Telford and Shropshire.
The new Community Diagnostic Centre will ensure:
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Earlier diagnoses for patients through easier, faster, and more direct access to the full range of diagnostic tests needed to understand patients’ symptoms including breathlessness, cancer, ophthalmology.
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A reduction in hospital visits which will help to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and reduce the number of journeys patients are required to take.
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A clear focus on tackling the backlog of procedures that has built up during the pandemic.
Across England, some £350 million will be invested by government to provide around 2.8 million scans in the first full year of operation. The centres will begin providing services over the next six months, with some already up and running, and will be fully operational by March 2022. They will be key to tackling the backlog in surgery and diagnosis that resulted from the impacts of the pandemic.
The Government recently announced an extra £5.4 billion to the NHS to respond to COVID-19 over the next six months, taking total extra COVID-19 funding to health and care services to over £34 billion this year alone. It builds on the new Health and Social Care Levy, which will see funding rise by a record £36 billion over the next three years. This funding will ensure that the NHS delivers an extra 9 million checks, scans and operations for patients across the country from 2022.
Lucy Allan MP has welcomed the plan as a key improvement in local health provision.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid MP said:
Tackling waiting lists will require new and more innovative ways of delivering the services people need. That is why we’re making it easier and more convenient to get checked.
Our new Community Diagnostic Centres will bring those crucial tests closer to home including in the communities that need them most. They will help enable earlier diagnosis, allowing us to catch cancer and other issues as quickly as possible, and save more lives.
Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said:
Rapid diagnosis will save lives and these one stop shops for checks, scans and tests in the heart of local communities will not only make services more accessible and convenient for patients but they will also help us to improve outcomes for patients with cancer and other serious conditions, ultimately sparing more patients and families the pain and trauma of disease.
NHS staff have continued to provide routine care, throughout the pandemic, alongside treating around 450,000 seriously ill covid patients in hospital, and the roll-out of these community diagnostic centres will help us to spot problems sooner, when they are easier to treat.
