Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are already freeing up hospital capacity in the North West by offering MRI, CT and other services closer to patients’ homes, often in the heart of local communities.

Tests and checks carried out at these sites will help staff diagnose a range of conditions including cancer, heart and lung disease quicker to ensure patients get the care they need more quickly, with almost 165,000 tests having already been delivered across the region.

The NHS is committed to rolling out a network of up to 160 centres across the country, boosting testing capacity so around nine million additional tests and checks can be performed each year by 2025.

New figures come on the same day of the next phase of the NHS campaign to combat the fear of cancer, with TV adverts and social media posts used to tackle people’s cancer worries rather than highlight specific symptoms.

The campaign, which previously ran in March, reached millions of people across the country and resulted in more people visiting the NHS website for support – a 17-fold increase on the previous month.

From this evening, TV adverts will run encouraging people to get checked out to put their mind at rest, or to get treatment that maximises the chances of a good outcome.

Polling as part of the campaign showed that almost one third of patients would delay visiting a GP because of the fear of bad news or because they felt they were wasting NHS time.

Additionally, nearly two-thirds (63%) said dying was their biggest cancer worry but just over a fifth (21%) would delay visiting their GP because they would hope serious health concerns would disappear first.

NHS chiefs have today renewed their plea for people to continue to come forward for care, as NHS staff pull out all the stops to address long waits for care and COVID backlogs that have inevitably built up.

Deborah Mitchell, North West Diagnostics Lead for NHS England North West, said:

“After a huge amount of hard work, commitment and effort, we’re glad to see that so many patients have benefitted from using community diagnostic centres (CDCs) across the North West and the country.

“In the face of COVID-19, we took on and exceeded in the challenge to help the NHS’s recovery and to take services into the future and we’re pleased to have contributed well over 10% of the national 1,000,000 diagnostic tests.

“Not only are they convenient but these centres will be vital in catching more health conditions at an earlier stage and will help people get the treatment and care they need and quickly.  “The most important thing is that people come forward when they have health concerns.

“The message from the NHS in the North West is loud and clear – people must not worry about coming forward for care and being a burden on the NHS, it is vital that people get checked as soon as they can – the earlier we see you, the sooner we can treat you.”

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust opened the first CDC in our region in July 2021, and as a result, their community diagnostic centre has improved the diagnostic process for patients, including cancer patients, in the region.

Diagnostics, medical tests needed to reach a clinical diagnosis, feature in 80% of all patient pathways and since their launch last year, community diagnostic centres have quickly made a positive difference to the services provided to patients across the region.

The ability to complete multiple tests at the same time means a diagnosis can be achieved sooner and ensure more patients get the treatment they need. More lives will be saved because of these centres and the people who work in them.

Caroline Dawn, Assistant Director of Operations, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said:

“As the first community diagnostic centre in the North West and one of the very first in England, we’re proud to have played our part towards the 1,000,000 diagnostic tests delivered by CDCs.

Since we opened last July, we have performed more than 15,000 tests and scans to help our local community and beyond but also to provide vital help to our services as they continue to recover. Due to the success of the CDC, we are developing and expanding the service to support faster diagnosis across a wider range of services including gynaecology & urology over the forthcoming months.”