A new state-of-the-art tests centre has been commended by an NHS boss as a key to fighting “staggering” health inequalities on Teesside.
The community diagnostic centre is being built on Stockton High Street on the site of the demolished Swallow Hotel and Castlegate Shopping Centre.
It will test for issues including cancers, heart and lung disease with MRI, CT and ultrasound scans, cardiology, x-rays, blood tests and respiratory checks when it opens later this year.
Stacey Hunter, chief executive of the University Hospitals Tees health group which will run the centre, said: “It’s one of the biggest diagnostic treatment centres in the country that was supported by the government. It offers opportunities for us to do more diagnostic tests for our local communities.
“The facility’s due to open at the mid to back end of November. The construction elements of the project are absolutely to time, obviously they’ve still got work to do.
“It’s really starting to take shape. You can see the rooms where the scanners will go, what the reception area will look like.
“We’ve got a nice big light airy place for people to wait. It starts to bring to life what’s been planned on a piece of paper for colleagues.
“They’re a big improvement on the current facilities. You’ll have state-of-the-art equipment.”
She stressed it would not be a hospital: “It’s purely a facility where we will do some tests. It will all be on an appointment basis, it’s not a place to go if you’re feeling generally unwell.
“It’s a place you go to for planned tests. You’ve had a referral for a particular test – an MRI scan, CT scan, ultrasound.”
But she said it would help ensure people were treated correctly as quickly as possible: “It’s investigations, the things we need to do to really pinpoint what might be wrong with someone.
“A diagnostic centre is fundamental to everything we do in helping our clinical teams really pinpoint what is going on for somebody, and therefore what we need to do.
“Often people come in with relatively low level symptoms, just not feeling quite right but not wanting to trouble anyone. Things like heart disease, cancers, the earlier we’re able to detect and diagnose, it helps us make sure we get people into the right treatment pathway sooner.
“It can only be positive to do that more quickly. It’s why the diagnostic centre for us is such a big deal.
“Lots of what we’ll do is rule out that somebody has a serious underlying problem, but that’s equally important. Knowing whether you’ve got something serious or not is fundamental to how you feel.”
She hoped it would give patients a more comfortable environment to undergo tests than the “hustle and bustle” of hospitals and A&E, which she admitted could be “quite scary” for patients awaiting diagnosis.
She said: “It can be quite intimidating for people. This will hopefully provide a more pleasant experience and help people feel less anxious.”
She also hoped it would help to recruit and keep staff from both North and South Tees NHS trusts: “For staff to be able to work in state-of-the-art facilities, they’re really excited. We need to make sure we can grow, attract and retain the best talent in the Tees Valley.
“If you’ve got the best talent who are happy, motivated and committed, you will be the best at what you do.
“I think the centre is a really good tangible demonstration of our broader ambitions. It will provide another 100,000 appointments a year, which makes a significant difference.
“It creates in excess of 100 additional jobs over the next two years, and it also brings together our current workforces from both of our trusts. It’s a real tangible demonstration of what we can do better together.”
She talked of using combined talents and assets to change long-term opportunities and tackle health inequalities, particularly in Stockton where a mix of affluent and deprived areas has led to differences in life expectancies of up to 18 years: “It’s staggering. There’s very similar trends in Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland.
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“The health inequalities have been stubborn. We’ve got a huge ambition and we can’t do this alone.
“We’re one of the biggest employers, if not as a group the biggest employer, in the Tees Valley. We’re doing a lot of work with our further and higher education partners and local education through our councils about how to make sure we’re contributing to those opportunities for local people.”
It fits into broader regeneration plans, as a key anchor for Stockton Council’s waterfront development and, along with the new NHS 111 centre at Cavendish House, a vital link to the planned care and health innovation zone. Ms Hunter said: “It’s starting to come to life. It’s a fantastic idea.”
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