Finchley Memorial Hospital Community Diagnostic Centre has celebrated a 50,000 patient milestone on its first birthday

The centre (CDC) has helped thousands of patients across Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington get quicker access to diagnostic scans and tests since opening in 2021.

Hosted by Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, the CDC is one of 92 new specialist diagnostic hubs across England.

The hubs aim to increase NHS diagnostic capacity by providing new facilities and equipment, training new staff, creating new partnerships and innovative ways of delivering healthcare, whilst reducing pressures on acute sites.

At Finchley Memorial Hospital CDC, the ambitious programme has rapidly grown from a single mobile CT scanner to now include one fixed and one mobile MRI scanner and two non-obstetric ultrasound machines.

Diagnostic services currently available include MRI and CT scans, non-obstetric ultrasound scans, blood tests, ophthalmology, and other cardiology, respiratory and microvascular tests.

The new, dedicated MRI suite has also just opened with the first fixed scanner operational and able to scan its first patients.

Over the next year, other work taking place at the Finchley CDC includes further expansion of the MRI suite, installing a fixed CT scanner, developing x-ray services, and expanding respiratory services to include sleep testing.

Dr Ash Saini, consultant radiologist at the Royal Free trust, said: “It has been both exciting and rewarding to see how the CDC at Finchley Memorial Hospital has increased the number and range of essential diagnostic tests it has to offer patients in the past year.

“Patients tell us that having access to this service gives them peace of mind and confidence in the NHS’s ability to treat them in a timely way. I’d also like to pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of the CDC staff who have made this possible.”

Jonathan Gardner, who leads on delivery of CDC’s in north London, added: “I’m delighted Finchley Memorial Hospital Community Diagnostic Centre has seen an incredible 50,000 patients from north central London in its first year.

“Every one of these appointments has supported our hospitals to recover from the impact of the pandemic and improved access to diagnostic tests for our patients.”