Graham Stuart, Member of Parliament for Beverley and Holderness, visited Withernsea Community Hospital, to discuss the positive difference the new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) will make in reducing wait times for NHS treatment in Holderness.
In December the Government announced the great news that two new Community Diagnostic Centres will be located in Beverley and Holderness – one in Withernsea and the other in Beverley. Located in the heart of the community, they will allow hospitals to focus on providing urgent treatment to patients while the diagnostic centres will focus on tackling the backlog of tests and checks that has been created following the pandemic.
So far 91 CDCs have opened across the country, delivering 2.4 million tests, checks and scans since July 2021. This shows positive progress is being made towards the Government’s target of CDCs performing up to 9 million additional tests a year by 2025.
On his visit Graham was given a tour of the hospital and spoke to a range of staff from the hospital and City Healthcare Partnership to learn more about the role the new CDC will play in reducing wait times for patients in Holderness. They also discussed how the hospital is coping with the additional pressures this Winter and the steps they are taking to ensure everyone receives the high quality treatment we all deserve.
Carol Waudby, Chief Operating Officer of the City Health Care Partnership, commented: “The community diagnostics programme will include opportunities to improve access to diagnostics at a range of sites in the East Riding including Beverley, Bridlington and Withernsea.”
Lyn Healing, ward councillor for South East Holderness, stated: “I was particularly interested in being shown the triage system used when a resident phones up to make an appointment. Numbers of patients having face to face appointments with doctors has increased considerably but the health centre is striving to improve those numbers even further.”
Claire Holmes, ward councillor for South East Holderness, said: “This is a really underused asset and I look forward to seeing it's use increased. Using it as a diagnostic centre would make healthcare much more accessible for local residents.”
After meeting the staff Graham said: “I am delighted Withernsea will benefit enormously from the new Community Diagnostic Centre. People across Holderness deserve the shortest possible wait times for NHS treatment and it was great to meet staff at the hospital to discuss the positive difference the CDC will make.”
