A peek into the future for Walton Hospital’s development
Ongoing investment in Chesterfield’s Walton Hospital as a base for a wide range of healthcare facilities for patients was in the spotlight at an information roadshow to share details of a £5.2m high-tech community diagnostic centre due to open on site in 2025.
Walton Hospital’s evolution to meet 21st century health needs has been underway on a phased basis over the past decade and has included the development of the Peter McCarthy Suite for a range of specialist outpatient clinics, major site reconfigurations and car park extensions and most recently the £2.8m transformation of mental health facilities on site and a brand new dining room which opened during 2024 and is open to the public as well as staff, patients and visitors.
Now the next phase in the transformation of this community hospital site is well underway and will ensure patients will be able to receive a range of high-tech diagnostic testing, including CT scans and ultrasound, in new purpose-designed facilities which are more convenient to access for Chesterfield area residents than travelling to larger hospitals.
Walton Hospital’s development as one of five designated Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) for Derby and Derbyshire is part of a £29.9m investment in making diagnostic tests more accessible and to reducing waiting times. The CDC investment programme is part of a national drive to improve earlier diagnostics for patients’ symptoms which in turn supports successful early treatments and improved patient care and patient experience. Derby and Derbyshire’s Integrated Care System (Joined Up Care Derbyshire) is overseeing the CDC programme locally.
An information roadshow was hosted in the dining room corridor on 28 November to share details of the new CDC development with Walton Hospital staff, patients and visitors. It included displays of architect’s images to help people visualise what the new centre will look like, internally and externally, when it is completed during mid-2025. It is being developed in partnership between Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Walton Hospital site, and Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, whose specialist diagnostic clinicians will operate the diagnostic testing facilities when they open next year.
Darren Tidmarsh (pictured left), Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust’s deputy chief executive, was among the visitors who attended to find out more about some of the high-tech diagnostic tests which will be available in the new unit and to hear a progress update on the building works. Darren is pictured with Scott Antcliffe, an award-winning Derbyshire photographer, who has kindly agreed to donate images of local landscapes to decorate the new unit when it opens. Staff and visitors to the information roadshow were invited to vote on their choice of image to become the centrepiece artwork in the unit’s new reception area.
Foundations and groundworks are well underway and the modular building which will house the diagnostic facilities will be transported onto site and craned into position in the new year. You can read more here: Metal shell of new NHS facility in Chesterfield takes shape ahead of installation :: Derbyshire Community Health Services.