A £5.8 million health diagnostics centre is set to open in Barrow later this year.
The Croslands Community Diagnostic Centre centre, which is being built on land at Furness General Hospital, will be run by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and the Morecambe Bay Primary Care Collaborative.
|At the rear of the Croslands building, it will have an MRI scanning suite along with support services including a prep area, recovery area, patient change, control room, Reception and waiting area, as well as three clinic rooms.
Its aim is to speed up the time people are seen by clinicians for potentially life-saving tests. People will have to be referred to the centre by their GP.
The Croslands Community Diagnostic Centre has been supported by National CDC funding to improve and increase diagnostic services at the hospital.
The trust has recently opened centres at Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal and Heysham Health Centre with national funding.
Joanne Park, head of the radiology department at Furness General Hospital, and a radiographer specialising in nuclear medicine in the NHS for more than 30 years, is one of the leaders of the new development.
Joanne said: “This is a really exciting opportunity and development for our service which will benefit our patients.
“It will be a huge improvement for our patients because there will be a much nicer environment.
“Patients will be able to come directly into the new centre and they won’t have to wait in the Outpatients Reception or go to different areas of the hospital for tests.
“Our Capital Services Team is doing a great job of building the new centre. We are very excited to be setting up this valuable service in Barrow.
“We welcome this major and well-deserved investment at FGH which will bring crucial tests closer to home and will help us to improve outcomes for patients with serious conditions, ultimately sparing more patients and families the pain and trauma of disease.
“Patients and staff will benefit as the centre will have a more modern and attractive environment as well as the latest technology.”
