£42.6m medical diagnostic hub set to open in April
BBCA new £42.6m medical centre on the site of a former supermarket is planned to open in April.
The facility at the old Sainsbury's site in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, is expected to deliver up to 85,000 checks and scans a year, helping with earlier diagnosis, according to University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust.
Patients will be able to access services including CT, MRI, ultrasound and X-ray without needing to go to the Royal Stoke hospital, "helping to reduce waiting times and avoid unnecessary hospital visits".
The new Stoke-on-Trent Community Diagnostic Centre was designed to provide people with faster, more convenient access to essential diagnostic services, the trust stated.
Developments last month included infection prevention testing of the sample room, delivery of CT scanners and the ordering of equipment and medicines.
Director of estates, facilities and PFI Lorraine Whitehead said she would like to thank "estates and projects teams and our contractors, who have been working tirelessly, seven days a week, to ensure the centre is delivered on time".
Sainsbury's closed its Hanley store on Etruria Road in 2022.
The site was chosen for the centre because of its good public and private transport links, UHNM has said.
The trust's deputy medical director Dr Ann-Marie Morris stated it was a "fantastic, purpose-built facility with state-of-the-art equipment".
She added: "Being based in the centre of Hanley means the service will be accessible, welcoming and much closer to where people live and work, which will make a real difference to the patient experience."
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