Patients across Liverpool are benefiting from earlier diagnostic tests closer to home thanks to investment in a new testing centre at Liverpool Women’s Hospital. Thanks to government funding, Liverpool Women’s are one of the first 40 new Community Diagnostic Centres (CDC’s) across the country.
The centres will help achieve:
- earlier diagnoses for patients through easier, faster, and more direct access to the full range of diagnostic tests needed to understand patients’ symptoms.
- a reduction in hospital visits which will help to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission; and
- a contribution to the NHS’ net zero ambitions by providing multiple tests at one visit, reducing the number of patient journeys and helping to cut carbon emissions and air pollution.
The new CDC is part of the Crown Street Enhancements Programme at Liverpool Women’s and is already offering a number of different services to patients including CT scans and Respiratory testing. The implementation of these services means that patients are benefiting from reduced waiting times and treatment closer to home, with September marking our three thousandth CT scan.
As we move forward with our plans to expand the CDC we will see permanent solutions for CT and MRI scanning being launched in early 2023.
- The development of the Community Diagnostic Centre in partnership with Liverpool University Hospitals (LUHFT), Liverpool Heart and Chest (LHCH) and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre (CCC) began in March 2022
- LWH took delivery of a Mobile CT scanner in February 2022 and its first patient was seen on in March 2022. December has seen over 5000 patients through the CT scanner
- Mobile MRI scanner is now on site and the first patients were seen 8th November 2022
- Permanent CT and MRI imaging are expected to be in place by early 2023.
- The naming of the CDC has been confirmed as Crown Street Community Diagnostic Centre
Early October 2022 it was announced that the various Community Diagnostic Centers across the country have now delivered over 2 million vital checks, helping to address the backlogs from the last two years. You can read the full GOV.UK news article on this national milestone here: click here.
Not only will the new CDC enable thousands of additional scans to be undertaken every year for patients in the region, but it will also help to reduce risk for some of our most seriously ill patients, who at the moment are transferred across the city when they need urgent scans.
This is great news for the Trust and for partner organisations such as Liverpool University Hospitals (LUHFT), Liverpool Heart and Chest (LHCH) and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre (CCC) who are already utilising the CDC for their own patients.
Not only will the new CDC enable thousands of additional scans to be undertaken every year for patients in the region, it will also help to reduce risk for some of our most seriously ill patients, who at the moment are transferred across the city when they need urgent scans. This development started as part of the Crown Street Enhancements Programme but has now been significantly expanded. The CDC at Liverpool Women’s is one of five in Cheshire and Merseyside. To view image of the scanner click here.
To find out more about the Government’s 40 Community Diagnostic Centres CLICK HERE.