Islanders are soon set to benefit from faster access to vital tests and scans closer to home, following new Government investment to expand and upgrade the Isle of Wight’s Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC).
Under a £237million national investment to create and expand 36 Community Diagnostic Centres across England, the Isle of Wight CDC will be expanded to include a new diagnostic unit for breast screening. Ground was broken on the project earlier this year, as previously reported by Island Echo.
Infrastructure will also be upgraded to enable the re-siting of the CT scanner, increasing local diagnostic capacity and reducing the need for patients to travel to the mainland for routine tests.
This investment, delivered by the Labour government, aims to boost NHS diagnostic services and ensure more care is delivered in local communities. This is particularly important for Isle of Wight residents who face additional barriers to accessing healthcare.
On the Isle of Wight, earlier investment is already having an impact. Since opening, the Community Diagnostic Centre at St Mary’s Hospital has delivered almost 55,000 appointments and tests in its first 6 months.
The Isle of Wight NHS Trust has also exceeded the national Cancer 28-Day Faster Diagnosis Standard, performing above the England average. By March 2025, national performance stood at 78.9%, surpassing the 77% target.
Alongside this, the government has recruited 2,000 more GPs and almost 8,000 additional mental health workers, while rolling out new Neighbourhood Health Centres offering services 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Richard Quigley, MP for Isle of Wight West, has said:
“Far too many islanders still have to travel off-Island for diagnostic tests that should be routine.
“While this investment won’t fix the challenges of our geographical inequality overnight, it is a meaningful step in the right direction – allowing more people to access vital tests closer to home and easing pressure on patients, families and the wider NHS.
“I’m particularly pleased about the island’s new diagnostic unit for breast screening.
“In December, I held a debate in Parliament highlighting the additional inequalities faced by women on the island, especially in accessing healthcare. Expanding local mammography services will reduce the need for women to travel to the mainland, support earlier detection, and help ensure timely diagnosis and treatment – a vital step in tackling persistent health inequalities.”
If having to travel to the mainland for NHS care
FREE FERY TRAVEL SHOULD BE PROVIDED
Let’s change the English language shall we? That is rhetorical can I say.
Surely, a hospital “delivers” babies in the maternity unit, not appointments. Appointments are, made, attended or cancelled.
I do question the 55,000 appointments in the six months.
Even working 7 days a week, that would be 301 (that is three hundred and one) appointments every day. Even in the whole outpatients department that might be possible with the multiple sections within it but I somehow doubt it.
The truth is out there somewhere!
8 months and still waiting for a cancer related appointment and have been told it is likely to be at least 11 months…
Yet the Health Secretary keeps telling us the NHS
is improving, total ballsh*t!
It’s worse now than ever!, hopefully you get seen sooner.