Damien Moore MP Confirms Ground-breaking New £5 million Community Diagnostic Centre at Southport Hospital

Local MP Damien Moore has confirmed a £5 million investment into Southport Hospital for a new permanent Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC), which is expected to open in December 2022. 

This follows Mr. Moore’s repeated engagement with the Department for Health to ensure that his constituents get the care they need and deserve.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care this week approved 10 new sites across England, with Southport making the list. The new Southport CDC will drastically increase diagnostic capacity and reduce waiting times in the town.

Mr. Moore has welcomed the “ground-breaking investment into Southport Hospital”, saying that such centres improve access to CT scans, MRI scans, ultrasounds, endoscopies, blood tests, and much more.

Southport’s new CDC is expected to open in December due to more than £4.8 million in capital funding from the Government. It represents the largest of several multi-million pound projects at the hospital over recent years, including £1.25 million for the A&E and £1 million for a new patient discharge lounge, which opened earlier this year.

The announcement follows recent campaigning by Damien Moore MP for improved health services in Southport and comes on the back of his repeated meetings with Ministers and officials at the Department for Health. 

In September, he launched his petition for the return of Southport’s Children’s A&E, which was lost in 2003 under a Liberal Democrat MP and at the direction of the then-Labour Government, following a re-calibration of hospital services in the town.

Mr. Moore expects that this massive £5 million investment is just the beginning of a new era of improved access to healthcare in Southport. He is also pushing for the return of Clatterbridge cancer services to Southport Hospital, improved stroke services, and for more ways for patients to ‘self-refer’ for routine treatments.

Damien Moore, Member of Parliament for Southport, said: 

“I am so pleased that Southport has been chosen by the Government to receive £5 million in capital investment for a new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) based at Southport Hospital.

“I have long called for increased access to healthcare in our town, and am therefore delighted that the new Southport CDC is planned to open in less than two months, in December this year.

“Southport’s permanent CDC will drastically increase diagnostic capacity and reduce waiting times in our town, allowing much more rapid access to CT scans, MRI scans, ultrasounds, endoscopies, and other crucial services.

“This ground-breaking investment into Southport Hospital will revolutionise healthcare for my constituents, and I very much look forward to supporting the new CDC as it opens. 

“Improving Southport’s health services is integral to my plan for our town, whether that’s the new £5 million CDC, bringing Clatterbridge services back for cancer patients, or my recently launched campaign for the full return of our Children’s A&E.”

Lesley Neary, Chief Operating Officer of Southport Hospital, said:

“We are delighted to hear that we have been successful in our bid to become a Community Diagnostic Centre.

“The new CDC is just one part of our plans to further invest in local services. It will be an expansion of our current services at Southport & Formby District General Hospital and will provide a modern ‘one-stop shop’ diagnostics and healthcare facility.

“The CDC will increase the range and capacity of diagnostic tests available, and provide more timely diagnoses for patients.”