Walton Hospital’s diagnostic centre – progress update

Walton Hospital’s diagnostic centre – progress update

Diggers are on site at Walton Hospital in Chesterfield as foundations are dug for the purpose-designed £5.2m new community diagnostic centre (CDC) which is due to open during summer 2025. It is being developed in a partnership with Chesterfield Royal Hospital whose clinicians will operate the diagnostic services which will include ultrasound, x-ray, CT and MRI scans, plus other diagnostic services.

The Walton Hospital CDC development is part of a £29.9m investment in CDCs across Derby and Derbyshire which will see five CDCs in community hospital locations. The other four are at Florence Nightingale in Derby, Ilkeston Community Hospital, Sir Robert Peel in Tamworth and Whitworth Hospital in Darley Dale which opened last year. Once all five are operational next year they will provide dedicated facilities for a range of sophisticated diagnostic tests more quickly and locally for patients without the need to travel to the big acute hospital centres in Derby, Chesterfield , Nottingham or further afield.

CDCs offer a ‘one-stop-shop’ for people to receive diagnostic tests and services and offer multiple tests in one appointment.

The centres will help achieve: 

• Earlier diagnoses for patients through quicker access to the full range of diagnostic tests needed to investigate patients’ symptoms.  
• Greater convenience for patients, by offering multiple tests at one visit. 
• A contribution to cutting carbon emissions and air pollution, by reducing the number of unnecessary patient journeys and traffic congestion in and around hospitals.
• A contribution to reducing health inequalities by providing personalised diagnostic services in the community, closer to home. The increase in diagnostics available will support more ‘one-stop’ pathways in these specially chosen locations. 

Steve Ward, estates project manager overseeing the Walton Hospital CDC development, said this week (October 2024): “The photos show the foundations are progressing well and the hole has been dug for the water retention system”.