Community diagnostic centres were introduced into the
English NHS in 2021 as part of the response to the
COVID-19 pandemic in England
The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England were NHS England and Public ...
. The intention was to make tests more easily available, reduce visits to hospitals and reduce patient travel.
Sir Mike Richards conducted a review of diagnostic services as part of the
NHS Long Term Plan
The NHS Long Term Plan, also known as the NHS 10-Year Plan is a document published by NHS England on 7 January 2019, which sets out its priorities for healthcare over the next 10 years and shows how the NHS funding settlement will be used. It was p ...
and this was one of his recommendations. There were 40 centres included in the first wave. £2.3 billion was committed to the programme.
MRI scanners, ultrasound, X-ray, breast screening, phlebotomy and bone density scans are available services. Some are in community settings such as shopping centres and football stadiums, but some are actually on hospital or GP surgery sites. Only 20% are actually “in the community”. The
King’s Fund
The King's Fund is an independent think tank, which is involved with work relating to the health system in England. It organises conferences and other events.
Since 1997, they have jointly funded a yearly award system with Smith Kline Beecham ...
said the centres had “much to learn” from the Covid-19 vaccination programme where people were easily able to access a vaccination centre in places “convenient and familiar”, such as churches and temples. They pointed out that the standard that patients should wait less than six weeks for a diagnostic test had not been met since February 2017. The NHS conducts around a billion diagnostic tests a year in England. The number of colonoscopies and MRI scans increased between 4% and 7% in the three years to 2018/19 and this trend is expected to continue.
In April 2022, 73 centres were operating, said to be providing 30,000 additional tests a week, and the aspiration was to have 160 CDCs up and running by 2025. This was actually an average of only 411 tests per week per centre. Shortages of qualified staff impacted on the programme. By September 2022 92 centres were operating and they were said to have delivered 1.7 million tests, checks and scans.
Steve Barclay was promoting them vigorously as "helping to bust the COVID backlogs." In October 2022 they were said to have delivered over 2 million tests, checks and scans since July 2021.
References
{{reflist
Clinics in the United Kingdom
Medical imaging in the United Kingdom
National Health Service (England)