Approval has been given for a new medical centre offering diagnostic care close to home for patients in Tameside and Stockport.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Tameside and Glossop integrated Care Trust have successfully received formal approval by ministers to build and run a Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) within the South East Manchester Sector which covers the two areas.

The centre will be located within Crown Point Retail Park in Denton, Tameside, and  will offer MR scans, CT scans, Dexa scans, ECG, Phlebotomy and Spirometry. It will provide around 129,000 extra tests a year when all services are live, and will be accepting patients from across Tameside and Stockport, who will be referred by a hospital or acute professional.

The CDC will focus on early testing close to home for the main drivers of health inequalities - respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mental health issues. It will help to ensure patients have access to these tests sooner.

A network of Community Diagnostic Centres are currently being planned and opened across the country, as part of the recommendations from Professor Sir Mike Richards, the first NHS National Cancer Director, who conducted a review of diagnostic services as part of the NHS Long Term Plan, published in 2019.

The aim is to provide easier, faster, and more direct access to the full range of diagnostics needed to understand symptoms, a reduction in the need for hospital visits, and a contribution to the NHS ambitions to cut carbon emissions and air pollution by providing multiple tests at one visit, by reducing the number of patient journeys.

The new CDC in Denton is expected to be in use by early 2024. By the end of 2025, there will be 26 CDCs across the North West, seven of them in Greater Manchester.

Karen James OBE, Chief Executive for both Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said “Approval being given for our new Community Diagnostic Centre is excellent news, providing a new option within the community for people in Tameside and Stockport to receive the diagnostic tests which they need. It will help us to provide tests more swiftly and efficiently, allowing them to get their diagnosis and treatment sooner.”