£23m Lincoln Community Diagnostic Centre opens to offer ...

The Lincoln Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) is run by the same teams as Lincolnshire’s NHS hospitals, but offers an alternative venue to access vital diagnostic tests quickly and easily, away from busy hospitals.

The state-of-the-art facilities include MRI, CT, non-obstetric ultrasound, X-ray and echocardiograms. Patients can also access physiological testing, such as blood testing, ECGs, spirometry and FeNO testing, which is being provided in partnership with Lincoln Healthcare Partnership Primary Care Network – a group of local GP practices.

Professor Karen Dunderdale, Chief Executive for Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals Group, said: “This is fantastic news for Lincolnshire, as these dedicated facilities will help reduce waiting times and make it easier and more convenient to access the diagnostic tests people need as part of their care.

“This is the second new facility to open in the county in the last month, following the opening of Skegness CDC in November, and marks an investment of £43million into services delivered during this calendar year across the CDC programme.

“This programme is also supporting us to develop our Lincolnshire workforce, with the creation of approximately 140 clinical and non-clinical job roles across the county. Lincoln CDC also has dedicated training facilities to support the training of future radiographers, with ULTH becoming one of the first NHS Trusts in the country to link directly with a school of radiography at the University of Lincoln.”

The Lincoln CDC, on Beevor Street within Lincoln Science and Innovation Park, has its own free parking, which is easily accessed from the Tritton Road area.

Services at the CDC can be accessed with referral from hospital or a GP. The first patients to use the Lincoln CDC attended for CT scans.

Patient Sarah Williamson, from Navenby, said: “It’s a really lovely building, even the light panels in the ceiling look great and make it feel welcoming. The free parking makes a difference as it takes away any worry about finding a parking space.

“It’s quite exciting to be the very first patient here and the energy of the staff really shows too, they seem excited to be here.”

Neil Stait, from North Hykeham, had previously been offered an appointment at Grantham and District Hospital for his CT scan, but was re-booked into the new Lincoln facility when the first date was not convenient for him. However, happily for Neil, not only was his appointment closer to home, it also meant he was able to be seen quicker.

He explained: “My original appointment should have been the following week and I was so impressed they could fit me in here this week instead. It feels nice and new, and having these tests available away from the main hospital is a great idea. I’ve already told one of my friends about it, who is also waiting for a scan.”

The dual contract for construction of both Skegness and Lincoln CDCs has been delivered by Modern Methods of Construction specialist MTX Contracts Ltd.

MTX Managing Director David Hartley said: “We have been privileged to partner with the Trust to deliver this dual contract for Community Diagnostic Centres at Lincoln and Skegness that will have such a huge impact on waiting lists and significantly improve the patient experience.

“Our hard-won experience designing and delivering fully compliant NHS facilities combined with our use of Modern Methods of Construction and offsite manufacturing enables us to create these vital units faster, greener, safer and more cost effectively than conventional building processes, with no compromise in quality. Working concurrently on the two projects presented additional challenges for our team, but at MTX we view every project as a learning opportunity to continually improve the service and value we can offer our NHS Trust partners.”

Find out more about our Community Diagnostic Centres on our website. 

Patient Sarah Williamson (second from right) with members of the CT team at Lincoln CDC.

Patient Neil Stait (centre) with Clinical Imaging Assistant Marcus Horwood (left) and Clinical Specialist CT Kane Bavin (right).

The entrance to Lincoln CDC.

Lincoln CDC MRI scanner

Lincoln CDC reception area

One of Lincoln CDC’s consultation rooms

Lincoln CDC CT scanner

Lincoln CDC ultrasound

Lincoln CDC X-Ray