Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has opened the Yeovil community diagnostic centre to support NHS patients in east Somerset and west Dorset with faster access to diagnostic tests.
Located adjacent to Yeovil District Hospital, the three-storey, 2,687sqm centre will deliver more than 70,000 diagnostic tests and outpatient appointments each year.
Services at the centre include MRI, CT, ultrasound and X-ray, alongside outpatient consultations, treatment facilities, ECHO and ECG testing, endoscopy, and adult and paediatric audiology.
"The YDC project is a great example of close collaboration between the NHS, InHealth, Prime, Darwin Group and M&G who were fully aligned on the project brief and how the property needed to be designed and delivered to meet tight timescales from inception to completion," Will Bilbrough, Technical Development Director at Prime told Building Better Healthcare.
Bilbrough said that the whole briefing, design, planning and development phase took just nine months.
"Achieving such short timescales is only possible when you work as one team. We had not worked with Darwin before but were impressed by their commitment to supporting project delivery in line with the required programme from the very first meeting. Prime and M&G have a long track record of delivering healthcare projects together and everyone involved with the YDC is delighted with the outcome," said Bilbrough.
The opening was marked by a celebratory event attended by project partners, including Prime, funder M&G, contractor Darwin Group, employer’s agent Ridge, and radiology and endoscopy service provider InHealth.
Radiology and endoscopy services at the centre will be delivered by InHealth, while the Trust will provide all other diagnostic and outpatient consultation, treatment and testing services.
Sustainability features of the new CDC
The development has also achieved a Biodiversity Net Gain of almost 300%, significantly exceeding local authority requirements.
Additional sustainability measures include a site-wide sustainable urban drainage system featuring attenuation tanks, a rain garden and bio-retention planters.
The centre incorporates a roof-mounted solar photovoltaic array providing 45kW of peak power output and an all-electric mechanical services strategy, including air-source heat pumps and heat recovery ventilation in non-clinical areas.
Modern Methods of Construction were used to support an efficient build programme.
"We should all be treating net zero and biodiversity net gain as a non-negotiable; because climate change will be a factor in future public health, we need to look beyond right now," said Bilbrough.