Regional construction company I&G have started work on the new Community Diagnostic Centre on the Seacroft Hospital site in Leeds.

Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) are local hubs which provide a broad range of diagnostic care, such as checks, scans and tests, without patients having to go to a main hospital. They mean patients can get access to diagnostic checks closer to home, and also cut waiting times, leading to people getting health conditions diagnosed more quickly and getting treatment sooner.

The new CDC, which will be run by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, will be developed on the site of Seacroft Hospital, off York Road in Seacroft, Leeds. The project will involve the refurbishment of one of the unoccupied areas of the site, retrofitting it and adding two extensions to make it into a modern healthcare building to house state-of-the-art technology.

Once open, the CDC will have the latest equipment to offer MRI and CT scanning, X-rays and various tests to local people, saving them a journey into the city to a large hospital.

I&G have engaged with the Trust clinical teams to help contribute to the design of the new building, with the whole of the end user teams inputting in a truly collaborative and joined up way.

A major part of the work will be to improve the thermal efficiency of the old building, upgrading windows and insulation to ensure the centre will take less energy to heat and cool, and reducing its overall carbon footprint, adopting a retrofit programme of works that will protect the facility and those that use the building for many years to come.

I&G Managing Director Christopher Carline said that the project would help give the building a new future. “Working in historic buildings is really rewarding, as through sensitive refurbishment we can bring them back to life, making them more sustainable and fit for the demands of modern healthcare for decades to come.

“Working in the hospital grounds is a challenge, as there are already functioning medical facilities on the site, and we need to carefully plan our work to avoid disrupting patients and staff. However, I&G are experienced at completing complex projects on live hospital sites, so we’re confident we can deliver this exciting scheme and improve health outcomes for patients in Leeds.”

A spokesperson for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: “CDCs will improve access and reduce delays for people who need an investigative test. The ambition for these new settings is to separate emergency and urgent diagnostics (delivered within hospital settings) from planned tests by delivering these closer to people’s homes in community 'one-stop-shop' settings. The new CDC will enable us to strengthen and expand the delivery of diagnostic services at Seacroft Hospital, which already hosts a number of outpatient services in a community setting. The CDC will complement the existing services and benefit from the well-established public transport routes at Seacroft Hospital.

“We are really pleased to be working with I&G to deliver the solution we need and ensure we have a modern facility where patients can get the tests they need done sooner.”

The new CDC is one of four being opened across West Yorkshire, with the others planned for Eccleshill, Huddersfield and Wakefield. Plans are also being developed for further supporting centres in nine other locations.