New diagnostic centre in Torbay will help to deliver care closer to home

Thousands of people in Torbay and South Devon will receive a faster diagnosis and treatment for a range of conditions including cancer, heart and lung disease when a new health centre opens in Torquay this summer.

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust will open a new community diagnostic centre (CDC) in Market Street, Torquay, in partnership with InHealth, the UK’s largest specialist provider of diagnostic solutions, to speed up treatment, reduce waiting lists and provide care closer to home for people in remoter areas.

Once open, thousands of people will be able to receive a wide range of tests in the town centre rather than visiting Torbay Hospital, which will allow teams there to focus on more complex and urgent and emergency care and reduce the chance of appointments being postponed at times of high demand.

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust will refer patients to the centre, where experienced clinicians will offer high tech scanning, including CTs and MRIs, x-rays, ultrasound and echocardiography (heart scans).

Arun Chandran, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust’s Chief Operating Officer said: “We are really excited that people in Torbay and South Devon will be able to receive a range of important scans and tests in the town centre. We know how worrying it can be to wait for a diagnosis of cancer or another condition, and the opening of the new community diagnostic centre will enable people to get a quicker diagnosis and begin any treatment they might need.

“Having the Torbay and South Devon Community Diagnostic Centre based in the town will also help us to reduce the time people are waiting for a diagnosis and care and helps our NHS to deliver its promise to deliver more care closer to people’s homes.”

Geoff Searle, InHealth Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust to provide key clinical services to the local population, from such a great, community location. Across our nationwide network of CDCs, we’ve seen the real difference and positive impact that centres like these can bring for patients, focussed on improving health outcomes, so we are proud of what our partnership with the NHS in the Torbay area will deliver for local people.”

The new community diagnostic centre in Torquay is one of five to be funded by NHS England South West in a partnership with InHealth, which has also seen mobile units going out across the region while the fixed sites are under development.

Dr Michael Marsh, NHS England’s South West Regional Medical Director, said: “This is about making a step-change in diagnostics for patients in the South West. We’re already bringing down long waits for patients, following the pandemic, but this will make a huge difference in our ability to diagnose people quickly and get them through to treatment.

“It will increase our capacity rapidly, reaching into the more-remote corners of the South West as well as serving the bigger centres of population. We hope the model will help us attract and retain staff, as well as training more for the future.”