The facility on Old Wainfleet Road opened this week, bringing a number of NHS diagnostic services to the town for the first time, including state-of-the art CT and MRI scanners, echocardiograms and dental X-ray.
Community diagnostic centres offer a range of elective (planned) diagnostic services, away from main hospital sites, providing easier and quicker access to tests, potentially closer to patients’ homes. Each centre in Lincolnshire is being designed to consider the specific health needs of the local community.
Other services available at Skegness CDC include non-obstetric ultrasound and a range of physiological testing, such as blood tests for adults and children over the age of five, standard ECGs and 24-hour blood pressure testing.
Blood testing for chemotherapy patients will also be available, in the first step to develop a chemotherapy service from the site.
Bernard North, from Sutton on Sea, was one of the first patients to use the new CDC in Skegness, attending for a CT scan.
He said: “My GP asked me where I wanted to go for my appointment, and initially I asked for Louth. Then I was telephoned and offered the chance to come to Skegness. My wife Rosalyn and I didn’t realise this facility was here and thought it might be a mobile scanner, but this was fantastic.
“I would 100% recommend it. I’ve been looked after so well by the health service.”
Approximately £42million has been invested in community diagnostic centres in Lincolnshire during 2024, which also includes a £5million expansion at Grantham in March 2024 and a £23million new modular-built facility in Lincoln. The Lincoln CDC is on track to open to patients next month.
Professor Karen Dunderdale, Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals Group Chief Executive, said: “We believe this to be the most significant NHS investment in Skegness in recent years and we are very proud to be delivering new diagnostic services that we know will make a huge difference to the local community.
“The CDC will offer more choice and convenience to help reduce travel for patients, while increasing the number of appointments to help bring down waiting times for diagnostic tests.
“We have already seen great success in the Lincolnshire CDC programme as a whole, with more than 118,000 tests delivered to patients since it began in November 2021 and the creation of approximately 140 clinical and non-clinical job roles. This has been made possible thanks to developments like this with better partnership working across NHS services, including with local primary care providers.”
Skegness CDC has been built on land owned by Skegness-based leisure operator Teen Spirit Limited.
Managing Director Scott Sinclair said: “Teen Spirit Limited is delighted to be working in collaboration with the NHS to bring a much-needed facility to local residents of Skegness and those in surrounding areas. The opening of Skegness Community Diagnostic Centre will be a quantum leap forward in meeting the health needs of local residents, speeding up access and alleviating the burden of travel to access essential diagnostic services.
“On a personal note, my four-year-old daughter was diagnosed with cancer in December and during treatment in Nottingham we met a family from Skegness who travelled long distances for care. I am sure having more local opportunities to receive diagnostic testing will make such a difference to others in a similar position.”
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 are privileged to partner the Trust to deliver new community diagnostic facilities that will have such a huge impact on waiting lists and deliver a significant improvement in patient care.
“This contract is one of several won by MTX to build CDCs across the UK. Employing MMC enables MTX to deliver fully compliant high quality facilities for NHS Trusts faster, safer, greener and more cost effectively, compared with conventional building techniques.”