Darren Jones MP visited the North Bristol Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) today (Friday 10 January) to find out more about how it’s increasing access to tests and scans for the local population.
The Bristol North West MP, who is also Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was shown around the Cribbs Causeway centre by North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) Joint CEO Maria Kane and Joint Chair Ingrid Barker, alongside Geoff Searle, CEO from InHealth, who run the site.
The visit came in the week that Prime Minister Keir Starmer outlined plans to tackle NHS waiting times through the Elective Reform Plan. Among the NHS measures to improve access to planned care is increased capacity through Community Diagnostic Centres and more surgical hubs, like the Bristol Surgical Centre currently being built at Southmead Hospital.
The North Bristol CDC fully opened in November next to the Asda store, after initially starting out in mobile units in the car park in April 2024. People can be referred directly for a range of diagnostic tests, including CT, MRI, endoscopy, and respiratory tests by GPs at some local practices or via NBT and UHBW. The CDC is open 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
It is delivered through a partnership with independent healthcare provide InHealth and is their largest site and among the biggest in the country.
Since opening in April 2024, 28,000 people have attended for diagnostic tests, which in turn means people can start treatment sooner.
Opening the centre has helped NBT reduce the number of patients waiting longer than six weeks for diagnostic tests to below the national standard of 5% or lower.
There is also a Community Diagnostic Centre in Weston, run in partnership with UHBW as well as centres at Torbay, Yeovil and Redruth, as part of a broader partnership with InHealth to deliver 5 CDCs in the South West.
Construction work on the Bristol Surgical Centre at Southmead Hospital – a surgical hub for planned operations - is nearing completion ready to provide additional capacity across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire for both NBT and UHBW when it opens later in the Spring.
Darren Jones, MP, said: "At the Budget, the Chancellor announced an extra £22.6 billion will be injected into the NHS over the next two years for day-to-day health spending. That investment will only deliver if it is linked to reform.
“On Monday, the Prime Minister set out how we plan to radically reform how people access care, with an ambitious but achievable target of cutting waiting times to a maximum of 18 weeks. Expanding the use of Community Diagnostic Centres, like this one in North Bristol, is an important part of that plan.”
NBT and UHBW Joint CEO, Maria Kane, said: “We know that providing services in the community, closer to people’s homes and where they work, helps them access health services and we are proud of the positive impact this centre has already had on our patients.
“We have made fantastic strides in reducing waiting times for diagnostic tests and treatment, but know there are still some people waiting longer than we would like for treatment and welcome plans to help people access care faster.”
Geoff Searle, CEO at InHealth said: “As a longstanding partner of the NHS for more than 30 years, this Government announcement further exemplifies how partnership working between our sectors will continue to bring real improvements for patients who need to access healthcare. With over 20 InHealth CDCs already open in England, operating 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, we know firsthand the difference they make in people’s journeys and we’re delighted to have created such a fantastic facility here in North Bristol”.