I welcomed the announcement that Buckland Hospital has been selected as one of 40 sites across England that will receive a new Diagnostic Centre.
The new centre will provide services closer to home for people in Dover, Deal, Walmer and the villages as part of the Government’s plan to ensure health issues are caught early on. It will begin providing services over the coming months.
Buckland’s new Diagnostic Centre will achieve earlier diagnoses for patients through easier, faster, and more direct access to a fuller range of scans and tests needed to understand patients’ symptoms – including breathlessness and cancer symptoms.
The new Diagnostic Centre at Buckland Hospital will help deliver better health outcomes for people in Dover, Deal, Walmer and our villages, by providing a one stop shop to test for and diagnose serious health conditions as quickly as possible. Through investing in early diagnosis and increasing NHS capacity, serious illnesses can be identified sooner and lives saved.
Having this centre locally will save long journeys for vulnerable and elderly patients. I have long been campaigning for greater use of the Buckland hospital to provide essential healthcare services, so I am delighted by this news.