On Wednesday 28 February, senior colleagues from Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) will celebrate the first steps in extending its provision of diagnostic services at the newly opened Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) within Montagu Hospital. This will complete phase three of the delivery of the centre, bringing innovative diagnostic abilities to the Dearne Valley area.
In 2021, Montagu Hospital was chosen to host one of three CDCs within the South Yorkshire area, following a £3 million investment from NHS South Yorkshire. DBTH received £230,000 of initial capital funding to deliver the initial phase of the CDC, comprised of a mobile MRI unit and a CT scanner on-site.
Following this, the project received a further £9 million funding to complement its services with an endoscopy suite, complete with training facilities, and multifunctional clinic rooms, including ultrasound. This phase of the service opened to the public in November last year.
The final phase of the project will see the construction of an imaging suite, to contain Static CT, MRI and ultrasound scanning facilities, significantly increasing the site’s capacity to undertake diagnostic tests for illnesses such as cancer.
The new Imaging Suite will be housed in a new purpose-built unit, adjacent to the recently opened MEOC unit at the rear of the Montagu Hospital site. It is expected that the new imaging suite will be completed by early Spring next year.
Montagu Hospital has to date, inclusive of the next phase of the CDC service, received £40 million in investments directly benefitting healthcare in the region.
Richard Parker OBE, Chief Executive at DBTH, said: “I am delighted that the next phase of investment at Montagu is soon to commence. It is important that the healthcare our Trust provides tackles health inequalities by bringing services closer to our community.
“Our community benefits from services being provided in localised settings away from traditional hospital buildings whilst freeing up acute hospital facilities for urgent treatment. The CDC will address this need by being positioned in a smaller, more accessible location. The CDC also benefits from not being impacted by emergency and critical care, ensuring appointments and treatments can go ahead as scheduled.”
For more information about the CDC at Montagu, head over to: www.dbth.nhs.uk/community-diagnostic-centre-at-montagu-hospital/