Plans for a new £10 million Integrated Diagnostic Centre have been revealed by South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
The new centre will be located at South Tyneside District Hospital and will take advantage of the latest technological advances in healthcare, with new MRI scanners installed, as well as mobile scanners that will be used to meet increasing demand. Clinicians will now also be able to view diagnostic images from multiple locations, even at home, to help speed up the diagnostic process.
Investment in the facility has been supported by Alliance Medical, and a series of virtual engagement events will take place during August to discuss the facility and explore what residents think of the development.
The trust’s Chief Executive, Ken Bremner MBE, said: “We are very excited about our plans for a new Integrated Diagnostic Centre in South Tyneside. This has been a long time in the making and I hope, once and for all, it gives a very clear signal about our commitment to South Tyneside District Hospital and making sure we provide the very best local services.
“Over the next few years, we will see millions invested to bring more state-of-the-art facilities to the local population. The new Integrated Diagnostic Centre is just one part of these plans and means South Tyneside will become one of only three specialist centres in the region to offer PET-CT scanning. This is fantastic news for patients and will mean faster diagnosis and treatment.
“We are only just beginning to really understand the true impact of COVID-19 on the NHS and this development will put us at the forefront of recovery and massively increase our capacity to care for more patients. It is a major development for local people not only in South Tyneside but across Sunderland and North Durham too.”
The trust is hoping to receive planning approval in the autumn and, if successful, construction work will begin at the end of the year, with the facility being able to open its doors at the end of 2022.
In its latest report, the Care Quality Commission recently rated South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust as “good”.
