Health centre opens in Wood Green

A new health centre has opened in Wood Green, in an effort to bust the Covid-19 backlog.

Operated by Whittington Health NHS Trust, The Wood Green Community Diagnostics Hub occupies two ground floor units in The Mall. It offers a range of medical services including blood tests, x-rays, ultrasound scans and specialist eye tests.

This comes as part of a nationwide roll-out which will see hundreds more community diagnostic centres (CDCs) opened across the country by 2025. The NHS hopes to make it easier and quicker for people to access appointments, diagnostic tests and treatment. 

All services at the Wood Green hub are provided in addition to existing local NHS services, in an effort to provide extra capacity in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Based in community settings such as shopping centres and football stadiums the centres are backed by £2.3 billion in government funding. 

The hub in Wood Green was opened by health secretary Thérèse Coffey this week (Tuesday, 11th October). She said: “My number one priority is delivering for patients and we’re getting on with the job tackling the issues that affect people most – ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors and dentists.

 “This new community diagnostic centre in The Mall in Wood Green is a fantastic example of how the NHS is innovating to bust the Covid backlog and speed up diagnoses – from cancer to lung disease – with rapid access to vital scans, tests and checks in the heart of the community.

“Nationally, over two million checks have been delivered through these centres and we’re on track to open up to 160 across the country by 2025, delivering an additional 17 million checks.”

NHS medical director for transformation, Vin Diwakar, said: “It is testament to the hard work of staff across the NHS that we have now delivered more than two millions tests at checks at CDCs nationally and latest figures show we have the lowest number of patients waiting for tests and checks since we published our elective recovery plan in February.

 “We know that rapid diagnosis saves lives, and it is great news that more of these centres have been approved to provide checks, scans and tests in the heart of local communities, making services more accessible and convenient and also helping us to improve outcomes for patients with cancer and other serious conditions.”

According to the NHS, Cancer, respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease are the largest causes of avoidable death in North Central London, and there is a 15-year gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and least well-off parts of the borough. The new centre aims to tackle health inequalities in Haringey by providing diagnostic tests on the high street.

The hub is expected to have provided over 40,000 tests to patients by the spring. It is currently operating Monday to Friday but will open seven days a week in the near future. 

Plans to expand the centre are already underway, with building work to expand into the unit’s lower ground floor with the installation of MRI and CT scanners set to begin later this year.