New diagnostic centre to open at St Mary's Hospital in Portsmouth

The new site, which will open at St Mary’s Community Health Campus in Milton, will offer a larger range of tests and scans to increase capacity and speed up diagnoses, with GPs able to refer patients directly to the centre for faster access to tests, rather than them having to come to hospital.

It means people will be able to be diagnosed, and therefore start treatment sooner, for serious conditions like cancer and heart problems.

New testing facilities will include mammograms, blood tests, ultrasound scans and heart monitoring.

Chris Evans, chief operating officer at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU), said: ‘We are really excited about the development of our community diagnostic programme.

‘It means more accessible and convenient services for our patients, it will help us to improve outcomes for people with cancer and other serious conditions while avoiding people having to come to hospital.’

The services, which are being led by PHU will go live over the course of the next few months.

Once fully operational, it is expected the centre will see 1,370 patients per week, helping to ensure they receive a diagnosis and any required treatment more quickly.

Clinical chair of Portsmouth NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, Dr Elizabeth Fellows, said: ‘This is great news for residents in the Portsmouth and south east Hampshire area who will be able to access life-saving checks, scans and tests without the need to attend QA.

‘It's more convenient for patients, a more efficient way of working, and will help us to diagnose cancer and other serious conditions as quickly as possible to help save more lives.’

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It comes as part of local NHS plans, following the region securing a share of a £350m national investment fund between 40 diagnostic centres nationwide, which will also see satellite clinics at Fareham Community Hospital in Sarisbury Green and Oak Park Community Clinic, Havant.

Secretary of state for health and social care, Sajid Javid, added: ‘Tackling waiting lists will require new and more innovative ways of delivering the services people need. That is why we’re making it easier and more convenient to get checked.’

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