A NEW state-of-the-art health centre has opened in a shopping complex – giving NHS patients access to a range of diagnostic tests closer to home.
South Birmingham Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC), at Maypole Retail Park, is equipped with cutting-edge imaging and diagnostic technology and is open daily from 8am to 8pm.
It offers NHS appointments to patients across Birmingham for a range of diagnostic tests, including CT, MRI, ultrasound, X-ray and respiratory tests.
Around 37,000 patients a year will be able to have diagnostic appointments at the CDC, which is being delivered through a partnership between NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and InHealth – an independent healthcare provider specialising in diagnostic services and community-based diagnostic centres.
CDCs are part of a national NHS programme to provide more tests and scans away from busy hospital sites, in community locations closer to where people live, work and shop.
The opening of South Birmingham CDC comes as the NHS continues its focus on reducing waiting times for elective treatment (planned surgery), with the Government setting a national target for 65 per cent of patients to be seen within 18 weeks by March this year.
Latest NHS figures revealed confirm the NHS has delivered this goal and in Birmingham and Solihull an average of 67.8 per cent of patients are being seen within 18 weeks.
Minister of State for Health (Secondary Care), Karin Smyth, said: “The NHS should fit around people’s lives, not the other way around, and this brand-new, state-of-the-art centre for Birmingham is going to offer convenient tests, checks and scans — without a trip to hospital.
“CDCs like this one are a vital part of how we’re rebuilding the NHS and getting people seen on time again.”
Danielle Oum, chair of NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board and NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board cluster, said: “Increasing diagnostic capacity is key to reducing waits, supporting earlier diagnosis, easing patient worries and reducing pressure on our hospitals.
“CDCs also support the direction set out in the national 10-Year Health Plan, shifting services from hospitals to communities, creating health services in our neighbourhoods, and increasing prevention of illness through earlier diagnosis.
“That is particularly important in south Birmingham, where we have some of the highest levels of deprivation in our city and where some people face additional barriers to accessing healthcare.
“By providing more tests in community settings, we can help reduce some of those barriers, give patients faster answers, and support better outcomes for our local populations.”
Patients are referred to CDCs by hospital clinical specialists for planned diagnostic tests and scans.
South Birmingham CDC is the second to open in Birmingham and Solihull in a retail setting, following the opening of North Solihull CDC at Chelmsley Wood Shopping Centre – also delivered in partnership with InHealth – which was officially opened by Health Minister Stephen Kinnock last year.
