Ilkeston Community Hospital has taken delivery of its new CT scanner as the next step in the development of a Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) on site.
The delicate operation to manoeuvre the scanner into the building took place over the weekend (28 September) while the hospital was quieter – as you can see it was a tight fit to get it through the main reception doors!
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust and the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust are working in partnership to provide these enhanced diagnostic facilities at Ilkeston. It means patients in the Ilkeston/Erewash area will have local access to a whole range of medical tests more quickly and more conveniently than they would previously have experienced.
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust’s estates team has been busy managing the infrastructure changes to accommodate all the additional facilities within the hospital. Derbyshire's first open MRI scanner, one of only a handful across the UK, has already been installed. Ultrasound testing facilities, including echocardiography and cardio-respiratory rooms have also been installed. X-ray, point-of-care testing and phlebotomy are also included in the diagnostic testing capability at Ilkeston as part of the CDC.
Clinicians from the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton are running the diagnostic facilities as they all get up and running, to provide more convenient and personalised care to patients closer to their homes. Derby and Derbyshire’s Integrated Care System has received £29.9m to fund the development of five CDCs to serve Derby and Derbyshire. Other CDC sites are currently in development at Florence Nightingale Community Hospital in Derby, Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital in Tamworth and Walton Community Hospital in Chesterfield. A CDC at Whitworth Hospital in Darley Dale, opened in 2023 as the first in the area to offer additional diagnostic services for patients in and around Matlock.
The creation of these five CDCs is part of the strategic aim to increase people’s access to diagnostic tests, reduce health inequalities by making diagnostic tests easier to access and improve outcomes in conditions such as cancer, stroke, heart disease, respiratory diseases, which are part of NHS England’s NHS Long Term Plan.