Diagnostic centre to help reduce waiting lists
Willesden Centre for Health will house one of seven new community based diagnostic centres (CDCs) helping tackle the backlog of patients that built up during the pandemic.
The latest tranche of CDCs, which offer a range of diagnostic checks for conditions including cancer, heart and lung disease, join 92 existing centres across the UK.
The Government plans to open 160 CDCs by 2025 capable of delivering nine million checks, tests and scans a year.
GPs will make direct referrals to the centre offering a faster more convenient service as well as helping reduce unnecessary hospital visits.
It follows the creation of 50 new surgical hubs that will also reduce waiting lists by delivering two million procedures during the next three years. This will include a hub at Ealing.
Jon Baker, Chief Medical Officer at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We are under huge pressure at the moment and the creation of more community based facilities is a positive for both patients and hospitals.
“There is no easy fix but strengthening the hand of our GPs means we can take a more collaborative approach to tackling the problem.”
A second CDC will open in Wembley in Autumn 2023.