CARE PROVISION
Serving patients outside the usual hospital environment
Mark Hitchman, managing director of Canon Medical Systems UK, discusses the creation of what is reportedly the UK’s first carbon-neutral built community sports and event arena with an integrated Medical Diagnostic Centre. He explains ‘why this unique fusion of sport and wellbeing will be a catalyst for positive regional health’, and highlights how its creation will ‘advance medical technology innovation, build trust in health data, and accelerate disease prevention’.
Where we live shouldn’t determine how long we live, yet across the UK there are areas of inequality where wellness can still be determined by socio-economic groupings or postcodes. This is a huge challenge for modern healthcare. Progress is being made with the government’s Levelling Up the United Kingdom strategy funding projects up and down the country to close the gap between the wealthier and poorer parts of the nation. This includes many health-related initiatives that aim to improve ‘wellbeing’ and narrow gaps in healthy life expectancy between the areas where it is lowest and highest. At the same time, the NHS England
roll-out of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) has gathered pace. This is increasing the numbers of diagnostic imaging tests and MRI, CT, or ultrasound scans accessible to patients to help address some of the challenges and delays associated with the COVID era, while also looking to the future by increasing frontline diagnostic capacity. A total of 160 new CDCs has been promised by March 2025, and latest figures suggest that the initiative has delivered an additional three million
checks since the programme started in mid-2021.1
Creating health equality through wellness With the above in mind, a decision was made to develop a unique community sports and event arena with an integrated Medical Diagnostic Centre in Sheffield. The project’s construction is now almost complete on Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, a regenerated life sciences and recreation area, alongside other key organisations focused on health, wellbeing, sport, education, and research. It is located next to a residential area housing some of the UK’s poorest and ethnically diverse communities. The opening took place on 5 October. This blueprint initiative is built on a belief
that the way to improve people’s overall wellbeing is through proactive health, sport, social engagement, and education – creating a cycle of future health prosperity that boosts a longer quality of life. With Canon’s long links to charitable causes, academic partnerships, and health research and development organisations in
South Yorkshire, the city of Sheffield is an obvious choice to build this first-of-a kind catalyst for societal change. When it comes to health inequality, Sheffield continues to lag behind the England average on most outcomes – including life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, educational attainment, unemployment, and housing. Bleakest of all is the inequality in healthy life expectancy in Sheffield – 20 years between the most and least deprived men; 25 years for women.2
that 20% of deaths per annum in Sheffield could be prevented by removing the direct cause factors of obesity, physical inactivity, and environmental pollution. So, in a bid to encourage greater
accessibility to affordable sporting facilities, the Arena will aim to help people partake in exercise to reduce weight and create healthier lifestyles, at the same time as providing a one-stop-shop for symptomatic healthcare. It will encompass a flexible multi- sporting facility, featuring three full-size basketball courts, and is designed to hold 2,500 spectators. It will become the new home for the Sheffield Sharks and the Sheffield Hatters (women) professional basketball teams, and will also be available to wider sporting, education, and community organisations. It will be run by PCA Ltd, and will also feature a café and function/meeting rooms – including a Study Support Centre that will work with disadvantaged children from the area.
The new facility is located on the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, a regenerated life sciences and recreation area.
Medical diagnostic centre at community’s heart To the north end of the Arena we will open a state-of-the-art Medical Diagnostic Centre featuring Canon Medical’s advanced imaging systems, including AI-assisted CT and MRI, diagnostic ultrasound, and digital X-ray. Also available will be fluoroscopy, consulting rooms, and a minor surgery operating theatre. The centre will be operated and staffed by The LivingCare Group, and will be available to
November 2023 Health Estate Journal 55
It is further estimated
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