New health centre inside shopping centre now won’t open until 2024

A new health centre in Southend will not be up and running until the end of 2024, despite initial hopes it could open in November.In August, Sir James Duddridge, Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East, announced a community diagnostic centre would be created inside the Victoria Shopping Centre and could be open this year.

However, now Southend Council has denied any imminent plans to use the council-owned centre for diagnostic tests and the NHS said any such centre will not be on the cards until 2024. A council spokesman said: “We are aware of NHS plans to open a diagnostic centre in Southend, and whilst we would welcome this being in the Victoria Centre, there are no current or live discussions between the Victoria Centre and NHS about this.”

The Government announced plans for 13 new community diagnostic centres to be opened across England, eight of which will be operated by the private sector. Sir James said Southend would be one of them, offering state-of-the-art equipment to increase diagnostic capacity and provide ultrasound, echocardiography, respiratory and phlebotomy tests and scans.

The NHS already runs a blood testing centre at the site. The Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Partnership has secured funding for a state-of-the-art diagnostic centre in Pitsea, which could be built on the site of a leisure centre next to The Range at Pitsea Retail Park.

Funding has also been awarded for a Southend diagnostic centre but an NHS spokesman said no location for the centre had even been discussed, as an independent provider has not yet been chosen to run the service.

Jonathan Dunk, chief commercial officer at Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, said: “We are delighted that the people of Southend will be able to have tests and scans in a diagnostics centre in the heart of their community. We know it will improve health outcomes and help to reduce waiting times.”

The trust added the location of the Southend centre will be agreed in the planning process and it is hoped that it will be “up and running by the end of 2024”. The Southend centre will be run by an independent sector provider, and the process to choose this partner will be run by Mid and South Essex NHS Trust.

Sir James said: “Southend will receive a Community Diagnostic Centre. While the timeline has slipped, all strategic partners are committed to opening the centre as soon as possible to unlock the additional testing capacity for residents.”

References

1. ^{^} The light-up steam train with thousands of LEDs set to travel through Essex this Christmas (www.essexlive.news)
2. ^{^} The well kept and tranquil Essex village with a strong willed community at its core (www.essexlive.news)