A local diagnosis: Learning the lessons of Community Diagnostic Centres

What is a Community Diagnostic Centre?

A Community Diagnostic Centre is a place where people can go for planned (elective) diagnostic care. Patients are typically referred to a Community Diagnostic Centre by a GP or specialist for a scheduled test or scan.  

Before Community Diagnostic Centres were established, most of these tests were performed in acute hospital settings — the same place where people needing emergency tests would go. 

Why did we look into Community Diagnostic Centres?

Little information exists on people's experiences of diagnostic facilities in England. Recent work has focused on access to diagnostic testing and people's hopes for the future of diagnostics but not on the details of people's actual on-site experiences.

The rollout of Community Diagnostic Centres holds important lessons not just for diagnostic services, but also for the new government's wider ambitions to move more services  out of hospitals and into community care settings.

Key findings

• Almost everyone (93%) we spoke to told us about good experiences at Community Diagnostic Centres.
• Almost a third of the general public (31%) said getting the tests done quickly was their top priority when choosing where to get a diagnostic test.
• Most people weren't offered a choice of location (78%) or time (61%) around their appointments – people said they would have liked a choice when the appointment given wasn't ideal for them.
• Local Healthwatch teams identified accessibility issues at several sites, including:
  • failing to meet people's communication needs.
  • barriers for d/Deaf people and people experiencing hearing loss.
  • issues with English language interpretation.
  • barriers for people with mobility difficulties, Autism, and dementia.
• Visiting the Community Diagnostic Centre was convenient for most people we spoke to – 70% arrived in less than 30 minutes, and 26% arrived in less than an hour.

Recommendations

Based on this report's findings, we set out the following recommendations for improving Community Diagnostic Service experiences.

• Up-to-date and detailed information about CDCs, such as opening times, services offered and locations, should be made available to patients and staff making referrals. 
• CDC sites should be made as accessible as possible, through:
  • Independent reviews of the accessibility of each site.
  • Proactive identification and response to communication and accessibility needs.
  • Local initiatives to hear from people with different accessibility needs.
  • Listing information about the accessibility of different sites online.
• People should be able to get clear information about travelling to a CDC through the NHS Service Finder and in referral letters.
• Improved signposting to support for parking and travel costs where applicable.
• A formal evaluation of the CDC programme to assess its impact on overall diagnostic activity, workforce and capital allocation, patient safety and experience, and effects on health inequalities.