Lincolnshire World joined guests on a tour of the new £15m community diagnostic centre works in Skegness.
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00:00Construction work is well underway on the new £15 million NHS Community Diagnostic Centre in Skegness,
00:09which promises to be a game changer for patients who now have to travel miles for appointments.
00:16Lincolnshire World went along to have a look at the work so far.
00:21So the CDC, our Community Diagnostic Centre here in Skegness, is unique to Skegness.
00:27Although not unique to Lincolnshire, we do have other CDCs across Lincolnshire.
00:32And this is a place where the population, this will be their local centre,
00:38where they'll be able to have diagnostic tests such as CT scans and MRI,
00:44echos, x-rays, rather than needing to travel to one of our bigger hospital sites.
00:50So it's a lot easier to access, there'll be free parking, which is always a benefit.
00:55People will be able to get seen in a really modern facility, have their tests and then go straight home.
01:01Now, a lot of the focus of the tour was state-of-the-art and reducing the anxiety
01:09that clearly patients are going to have when they walk through the doors.
01:14Can you tell us a little bit about that, about some of the elements of this centre?
01:20Yes, so as I've already said, this is a state-of-the-art centre with state-of-the-art equipment,
01:26some of the best that we'll have across Lincolnshire.
01:29And the way that the building's been built, working with all of our clinicians,
01:33with patients, with people who've got an interest in this centre,
01:37is understanding what their needs are and being able to build those into the development of this,
01:43such as maintaining dignity when you have to change to, for example, put on a gown and go into a scanner.
01:49You need to do that in a dignified way, making sure that you're not sat for a long period of time waiting for your test.
01:55It'll be very rapid and quick through the centre.
01:58And, of course, in some of the areas we can't have windows, but we can put other things in place,
02:04such as skylights that show different outside area pictures that make it look like there's a window there.
02:15And it'll be bright and airy, and we'll be using lighting in a way to keep it really bright and airy.
02:21And it'll just feel really different.
02:23It won't feel like you're coming into a clinical setting, even though quite clearly it will be one.
02:28Now, of course, it's going to reduce travelling distances for local patients, isn't it?
02:35It certainly will, of course, for the population of Skegness and the surrounding area,
02:41whether you are a resident here all year round or a resident for part of the year.
02:46Being able to access something like this without having to go to either Boston, Grantham or the Lincoln County Hospital
02:52has got to be so much better for the local population.
02:56And do you have an opening date?
02:58So we have a date at the beginning of November.
03:01So we're working towards that with the contractors.
03:04We're currently on track to open right at the very beginning of November.
03:07But obviously as we get nearer to that, we'll be able to say exactly what that date is.
03:13It is expected Skegness's CDC, which is on the site of the former Kwik Save supermarket,
03:19will be open to the public in early November.