£4 million extension completed at Lincoln Community Diagnostic Centre

More patients will be seen at Lincoln Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) now a £4 million extension is complete.

The extension includes an additional nine consultation rooms, a treatment room and a plaster room. These facilities have been built to help Lincolnshire’s NHS teams to deliver a wider range of clinics from the facility.

This will include some outpatient orthopaedic clinics previously based at Lincoln County Hospital. The extension will also support additional clinics for physiotherapy, dermatology, neurophysiology and stroke.

Professor Karen Dunderdale, Chief Executive of Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals NHS Group, said:

“The completion of the £4 million building project to extend our facilities is great news for the residents of Lincolnshire.

“The additional space will help us to see more patients in the community as part of their ongoing planned outpatient care. By moving some clinics out of Lincoln County Hospital, we’ve also been able to support improvements to urgent and emergency care services.

“The freed-up space means our Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) service within the hospital has been able to grow. This is helping more people to access emergency care quickly and without the need for a hospital admission.”

What services are available at a CDC?

A CDC provides a broad range of diagnostic services, such as X-rays, blood tests and CT and MRI scans, as part of a patient’s ongoing planned care, away from busy acute hospitals. Lincolnshire’s CDCs are also home to other clinics, including those supporting patients with dementia, angina and women’s health conditions.

Some outpatient orthopaedic clinics have already started to take place at the CDC.

Mark Rowsell, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and Clinical Lead for Orthopaedics at United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said:

“The extension at has allowed us to develop fantastic purpose-built facilities for our orthopaedic patients. Being co-located with the state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities, patients can access all the services they need conveniently as part of their ongoing orthopaedic care in the same location.

“We hope access has also been made easier by being away from the busy Lincoln County Hospital site, with free parking available close to the building and public transport links also close by.”

Orthopaedic Consultant Vikas Sharma with patient Linda Dalby in one of the clinics at Lincoln CDC

Staff in one of the orthopaedic clinics. From left - Healthcare Support Worker Susan Dobbs, Orthopaedic Consultant Vikas Sharma, Clinical Service Manager Carly Hicks and Staff Nurse Steven Meadows — Orthopaedic Consultant Vikas Sharma with patient Linda Dalby in one of the clinics at Lincoln CDC

Patients praise for new community facilities

Linda Dalby (75), from Gainsborough, is preparing for surgery for a knee replacement and was among the first orthopaedic patients to be seen in clinics at Lincoln CDC.

She said: “I thought it was absolutely wonderful. Everything was so streamlined and I was really impressed. It was a beautiful building. I think having clinics in the community is the way forward.”

Linda added: “I was talking to another patient while I was in the X-ray department and she said the same thing. The Community Diagnostic Centre is such an asset.”

The building extension was completed in approximately five months and connects to the existing building via a shared entrance. The new clinic area includes its own dedicated reception and waiting area, and a second waiting space for children.