Diagnostics
We must ensure that we have a full and accurate understanding of such a pivotal and increasingly important part of our NHS with regards to performance, progress and innovation. Every patient who uses these services should have access to the best possible medical technology and innovation currently being used on the NHS. Barbara Harpham, Chair of the MTG.
expand the development of dedicated healthcare academies and strategic workforce development partnerships between CDCs and educational institutions. CDC bids adopting the latter approach should be prioritised.
l NHSE should monitor whether standardised onboarding procedures are implemented across all CDCs, and ensure that comprehensive training, oversight, and support mechanisms are in place for staff. To uphold high standards for patients, robust quality assurance mechanisms should be established by NHSE.
l CDC system leads must implement a range of retention strategies tailored to the CDC context. To ensure the effectiveness of these strategies, continuous feedback mechanisms with healthcare professionals should be established, allowing them to pinpoint measures that can make a significant difference.
Response to the report Responding to the report, Charlotte Wickens, Policy Adviser at The King’s Fund, said: “This report helpfully examines the extent to which the CDCs programme is contributing to the government’s plan to expand diagnostic capacity. Boosting diagnostic capacity is important for patients, given the scale of the backlog for tests and scans in England, which stood at over 1.6 million appointments in November 2023. “However, the programme also has a wider ambition to deliver diagnostics differently, in a way that tackles health inequalities and moves access to diagnostics into underserved and deprived communities. This means the location of the CDCs is also crucial. While it might make sense to co-locate CDCs with existing NHS facilities, there are also benefits to having these centres embedded in the community. “The government’s announcement that
they will speed up opening is a good thing for capacity in the NHS, but it is important that this
Feedback Medical Community Diagnostic Centre Pilot
Queen Victoria Hospital in Sussex is one of the first to deliver end-to-end symptom- based pathways through the CDC programme. Collaborating with Feedback Medical, a pilot programme was established using Feedback Medical’s digital infrastructure solutions – CareLocker and Bleepa. CareLocker integrates with multiple
clinical systems and centralises data around an individual patient. This means that all the diagnostic results can be seen in one place across all provider groups, ensuring that relevant data can be collected from multiple clinical settings. This travels with the patient and is always available to clinicians. Bleepa is a digital clinical communication platform that captures patient investigations, aligns them with specific patient pathways, and presents them
to clinicians in both primary and secondary care settings for review, discussion and strategic onward management. The pilot achieved an impressive 70% reduction in patient waiting times for the breathlessness pathway. Leveraging digital infrastructure through Bleepa and CareLocker, this initiative achieved remarkable efficiency gains, releasing £1.7 million for every 10,000 patients without requiring extra staff or CDC expansion. When asked what the barriers to scaling up
the pilot were, Feedback Medical referred to the lack of centralised digital leadership historically in the NHS and with the evolution of ICSs. When asked whether there was sufficient funding to establish strong digital infrastructure within CDCs, the consensus was that further funding would be necessary.
increased pace does not eclipse the ambition for the new centres to improve access for underserved communities.” David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, said: “We welcome this report which sets out both notable achievements and successes, as well as challenges which have faced Community Diagnostic Centres. “There’s no doubt that CDCs are crucial for delivering quick, effective patient care. It’s right that we also consider how to maximise their impact for patients, and scrutinise that they are providing genuine additional capacity and capability, where local communities can easily access them. We agree with the call for better and more transparent data and reporting, to help manage waiting lists and reducing waiting times.
“It is good to see recognition of the important
role that the independent sector plays in delivering high quality diagnostics services to NHS patients, with case studies of very effective partnership projects between the NHS and independent sector. “We believe the independent sector is a vital partner in the future of CDCs and hope to see continued commitment to using the sector more fully – it’s an effective and value for money way to deliver these services – levering in private sector capital and expertise over the long term to build new facilities and to help ensure that more NHS patients can get the tests and scans that they need.”
Driving efficiency in CDCs The investigation by APPG for Diagnostics also follows a report by the Medical Technology Group (MTG), examining the role of technology in tackling the backlog.2
The MTG sent Freedom
of Information requests to the 42 ICSs in England and Wales to gather information about the establishment, performance, patient involvement and use of medical technology in relation to surgical hubs and Community Diagnostic Centres. A total of 39 out of 42
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