Metal shell of new NHS facility in Chesterfield takes shape ahead of installation
Chesterfield’s NHS project team responsible for developing the town’s new £5.2m Community Diagnostic Centre at Walton Hospital recently toured the factory fabricating the steel shell of the new purpose-designed facility, expected to open in summer 2025.
The whole building features 15 modules that will be lifted into position by crane over a three-day period. Following this, internal walls will be constructed, and external finishes, including cladding, will be applied. The entire process, from module delivery to a fully formed building, is expected to take approximately three-and-a-half months.
Jude Navesey, programme lead for the community diagnostic centre development, said: “It was incredibly helpful for the project team and service leads to understand how the building will come together and operate once finished. Actiform – the building company supporting the project - was very accommodating and explained in detail each part of the build. It was great to visualise the building and see how it will all work together to create the whole centre.”
CDCs are ‘one-stop shops’ designed to provide an easier and altogether better patient experience by having a host of diagnostic facilities and services in one place. Where previously some diagnostic procedures needed to be completed in different locations and at different appointment times, there is now greater flexibility and options for patients – including tests completed under ‘one roof’ and closer to patients’ homes: reducing the need for travel and providing improved access.
There are two CDCs in North Derbyshire located at Walton Hospital and Whitworth Hospital. These are both provided by a partnership between Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust, which runs both hospital sites, and Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust whose clinicians run the diagnostic tests. Services at Walton Hospital include blood tests, CT scans, ultrasound. Services at Whitworth include blood tests, ultrasounds, x-ray and point-of-care testing. The Walton Hospital diagnostic tests will move into their purpose-designed new home later this year; they are currently provided in temporary accommodation on site.
Find out more about the purpose-built development at Walton Hospital
You are welcome to drop in to an information roadshow:
- Walton Hospital, dining room corridor
- Thursday 28 November
- 11am – 2pm.
Come along to find out more about the development of community diagnostic facilities in Derbyshire, and specifically about the facilities due to open at Walton Hospital in 2025. Vote for your choice of photographic artwork to decorate the new facilities.