New diagnostic centre aims for fast community care
BBCNottinghamshire's first purpose-built Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC) - a "one-stop shop" for patients needing tests and diagnosis - has been officially opened.
The centre, on Mansfield's Stockwell Gate, will offer a range of services, including blood testing, ultrasound, endoscopy, gynaecology treatment, CT and MRI scanning, and consultation rooms.
Bosses said the £27.4m facility would create extra capacity to help patients receive quicker diagnoses, begin treatment sooner, and avoid unnecessary hospital visits.
It is expected the CDC will see up to 100,000 patients a year after they have been referred by a GP or hospital specialist.
Plans for the CDC were announced in 2023, and building work began in December 2024.
Steve Yemm, MP for Mansfield, said it would provide a new pathway for treatment.
"There is an acute hospital up the road, but of course that is more difficult for people to access, and there wasn't the same kind of rapid access you get in a dedicated diagnostic centre like this.
"So we know from, for instance, cancer pathways that getting a rapid diagnosis is really really important - not just for getting treatment, but to outcomes as well.
"So that is why this is so important to deliver something very important for people in Mansfield," he said.
James Thomas, deputy chief medical officer at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, said: "It is partly about ease of access, and it is partly about protecting these diagnostic tests from the busyness of the hospital.
"So it doesn't matter how busy the hospital is getting, we are still getting through our outpatient work down here.
"There is an ongoing need for increased diagnostics as our technology advances and as our knowledge of medicine and diseases advances, there is more and more need for diagnostic tests."
The CDC will also feature a commemorative garden, designed with the help of local students, aimed at helping support the wellbeing of those using the centre.
A similar facility has been announced for the Broadmarsh site in Nottingham city centre.
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