Diagnostic centre to improve access to 'vital scans'

The diagnostic centre is expected to provide almost 25,000 additional patient scans every year

A hospital trust has moved a step forward in its plans to construct a £17.8m diagnostic centre to improve access to vital healthcare.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has been given approval by NHS England to construct the facility next to Bridgwater Community Hospital. It said it has now applied for planning permission, which if approved could see the facility open next summer.

The centre will run a range of services including two CT scanners, two MRI scanners, four outpatient rooms and two echocardiography and ultrasound rooms.

Programme director David Craig said the centre is "expected to provide almost 25,000 additional scans every year".

This will enable the centre to provide the Bridgwater population with routine and specialist cardiac and cancer scanning, alongside clinics.

The centre will be built next to Bridgwater Community Hospital

It follows the opening of a community diagnostic centre in Taunton in 2020, as well as the development of a diagnostic centre next to Yeovil Hospital, which is expected to open later this year.

"This development is fantastic news for people in Bridgwater and will improve access to vital healthcare scans, as well as help us to reduce our waiting times," Mr Craig said.

"The new centre supports one of the three shifts of the NHS 10 Year Plan, which involves transferring care from hospitals into local communities.

"Running across seven days a week, it will improve access for people in Bridgwater and the surrounding areas to specialist care, with the centre expected to provide almost 25,000 additional scans every year."