A former health secretary has launched a scathing attack on Cambridgeshire health bosses, accusing them of “wasting the millions invested” in a new diagnostics facility.
The new £2.1 Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) at North Cambs Hospital, in Wisbech, opened in 2023 to bring “state-of-the-art diagnostic services close to people’s homes”.
It meant patients who require procedures such as MRI or CT scans could have those appointments closer to home, rather than travelling to other hospital sites.
But Steve Barclay, who represents the Fenland town in his constituency of North East Cambridgeshire, claims there have been “some months” where no patients have been treated at the centre at all.
After describing the situation as a “scandal”, he wrote on a Facebook post: “... figures I have uncovered show in some months, such as April and October last year, no patients were treated at the Wisbech CDC and that in seven of the last 21 months fewer than 100 patients a month were treated.
“This is appalling when in another month last year as many as 946 patients were treated at the Wisbech CDC, which shows the facility has scope to see many more patients.
“Thousands of local patients are missing out on speedy, local treatment as a result.”
He added: “Health bosses have also refused to add the Wisbech CDC to the places that scans and tests can be booked via the NHS App - artificially suppressing demand from patients many of whom would prefer to have their MRI or CT scan locally.
“This is a textbook case of the failure of health bosses to use the investment in the NHS effectively to improve health productivity, resulting in poorer outcomes for local patients.”
In a follow-up post yesterday (Thursday), Mr Barclay said he had written to the organisation that oversees the planning and delivery of health and care services across the county about the issue.
He also asked John O’Brien, the chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board (ICB) if a £1m mobile MRI scanner that was “temporarily moved to Ely” would be returned to the Fens.
Mr Barclay’s criticisms of the CDC have also come the same week that the Friends of Wisbech Hospitals, a charity that has supported the site for around 70 years announced it is to close.
A spokesperson for NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough said: “We want to make sure that Wisbech Community Diagnostic Centre benefits the health and care of as many local people as possible.
“That’s why we’re working closely with colleagues, including GP practices in the area, to make it even easier for patients to get tests and scans done at the centre in the future.
“This includes making changes so that people can be referred directly by their GP practice to the centre, helping the local community access care closer to home whilst reducing waiting times.
“We’ve already seen a doubling in the number of people seen at Wisbech CDC in the last four months as a result of this work.”
Work is also ongoing with GP practices to open up direct referral routes to the diagnostic centre in areas of high demand such as spirometry, echocardiograms and non-obstetric ultrasounds.
In April 2018, before Mr Barclay became the health secretary for the previous Conservative government, an £8m improvement plan for North Cambs Hospital was announced.
The MP had placed the hospital at the heart of his “Treat Me Local” campaign and, at the time, the investment was being allocated to refurbish Rowan Lodge and move some patient services from King’s Lynn.
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