Newmarket Community Diagnostic Centre

Our Trust is working hard to deliver a new £15 million Community Diagnostic Centre at the Newmarket Community Hospital.

Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) are being established across the country under a government programme to improve local access to diagnostic testing.

Once open, the Newmarket CDC will deliver approximately 100,000 outpatient tests a year, which include CT, MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, blood tests and heart and lung scans. This will mean the communities in and around Newmarket will have quicker and easier access to the tests they need in a modern facility located on their doorstep.

This will reduce waiting times and tackle health inequalities by ensuring our patients get their test arranged, their results back and any necessary treatment scheduled more quickly.

The CDC is being constructed using modern building techniques, utilising off-site manufacturing which increases the speed at which it can be constructed and includes green building aspects so that it contributes to the Trust’s environmental goals.

Alongside numerous environmentally-friendly features to ensure the CDC is sustainable now, and in the future, 123 photovoltaic (PV) panels – also known as solar panels – will be installed across the Newmarket Community Hospital site. These panels will generate at least 46% of the CDC’s energy, which has surpassed our original target of 10%.

What is the latest news?

The construction phase of the project commenced on 12 January 2024, and this is expected to continue until the end of October 2024.

We expect the first patients will be seen in the new facility before Christmas 2024.

For more information on our progress, you can read our latest press release in the newsroom, or watch the short video.

Will there be career opportunities in the Newmarket CDC?

Yes.

The Trust has been working with West Suffolk College to establish a scheme to give those who have never worked in diagnostics or healthcare the opportunity to train and work in one of the numerous teams based in the CDC.

The West Suffolk Community Training Academy is a 12-week programme, designed to give participants the skills to fill a range of clinical and non-clinical vacancies at the Newmarket CDC, elsewhere within the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT) and in local general practices.

Applicants must to be over 18, but do not need to have any prior experience or knowledge of the NHS or diagnostics.