By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter
A newly-approved community diagnostics centre in Mansfield will offer patients quicker diagnosis by carrying out 130,000 extra medical tests every year.
The multi-million-pound facility at Mansfield Community Hospital will offer people from across Nottinghamshire a ‘one-stop-shop’ for tests and investigations.
It could be able to offer earlier access to MRIs, x-rays, ultrasounds and CT scans.
Mansfield District Council this week approved the plans from Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust.
The purpose-built unit will take the place of a disused annexe on the Stockwell Gate hospital site once it has been demolished.
The trust says it could lead to the creation of hundreds of new jobs.
The facility will be partly funded by a £24.2m which Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Systems has been allocated to build diagnostic centres.
The remaining sum will be spent on a large facility in Nottingham city centre, run by Nottingham University Hospitals Trust.
The application says: “Demand for diagnostic services in England was growing before the Covid-19 pandemic, and the pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing challenges.”
Amanda Sullivan, chief executive at NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said when the application was submitted last year: “This facility will help so many patients to be seen and diagnosed quickly and efficiently.
“Although the centre will be based in Mansfield, this new facility will be a huge boost for the area as a whole.
“Patients across the whole of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire will be able to benefit from the facilities available there.
“It will be great to see the positive impact this will have on patient care in the future.”
It was claimed at the time that the building could open to patients later this year.
The 3,500-square foot building will have vacant space on the first floor for future expansions.
