New NHS test suite to reduce wait times

The new facility will offer a range of health tests, including MRI and CT scans

Work has started on a new NHS facility which will be used to carry out diagnostic tests on thousands of people every year.

The centre in Swindon will provide endoscopies - a test which uses a tube with a thin camera to examine inside the body - as well as MRI and CT scans.

It will be created inside mobile trailers next to West Swindon Health Centre, in Link Avenue

The facility will make tests "more timely" and "more convenient" for patients, according to Dr Barry Coakley from the area's integrated care board.

The community endoscopy unit is expected to take six months to complete, and will eventually be used by 6,000 patients a year.

Dr Coakley, the deputy chief medical officer for the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, said waiting for tests can be a "worrying time" for patients.

"Having as short a wait as possible is vital and that's why getting these additional services in place is so exciting," he told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

The care board already has facilities in Salisbury and Bath that provide many of the same services.

By April 2025, it is expected that about 60,000 local people will have visited one or more of these centres for a diagnostic test.