Daily Newsletter

08 August 2023

Daily Newsletter

08 August 2023

UK to open 13 new community diagnostic centres

The government intends to establish up to 160 new centres throughout the country by 2025, with financial backing of £2.3bn.

RanjithKumar Dharma August 07 2023

The UK Government has unveiled plans to open 13 new community diagnostic centres (CDCs) across the country as part of its plans to utilise the independent sector to reduce the waiting lists of the National Health Service (NHS).

In the South West of England, five of these independent sector-led CDCs will provide services to patients. These CDCs will have permanent sites in Bristol, Redruth, Yeovil, Torbay, and Weston-super-Mare, all scheduled to open fully in 2024.

Three additional locations are set to launch in Southend, Northampton and South Birmingham.

The Southend location will begin operations in November, while the Northampton and South Birmingham locations will commence activities in December.

An additional five centres operated by the NHS will be established in Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Lincoln, Skegness and Hornchurch.

The 13 new centres are expected to provide 742,000 additional scans, tests and checks each year.

With financial backing of £2.3bn ($2.93bn), the government intends to establish up to 160 new centres throughout the country by 2025.

UK Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “By making use of the available capacity in the independent sector, and enabling patients to access this diagnostic capacity free at the point of need, we can offer patients a wider choice of venues to receive treatment and in doing so diagnose major illnesses quicker and start treatments sooner.

“The Elective Recovery Taskforce has identified additional diagnostic capacity that is available in the independent sector, which we will now use more widely to enable patients to access the care they need quicker.”

As of now, there are 114 CDCs operational nationwide, which have provided an extra 4.6 million tests, evaluations and scans since July 2021.

Healthcare companies are hesitant to invest in the metaverse

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the healthcare industry to rapid digitalization. Increased use of telehealth, telepresence systems, remote diagnostics, predictive AI, and wearable technology is changing how healthcare is delivered and improving patient outcomes. Emerging technologies such as AR and VR are becoming increasingly routine for professional training, surgical assistance, and treatment of psychological and neurological disorders. In the pharma and medical devices industries, AR, VR, and AI are rapidly accelerating drug discovery and manufacturing and generating supply chain efficiencies. New digital opportunities will look to build upon disruptive technologies. However, affordability is a limiting factor to widespread adoption. Per GlobalData estimates, the metaverse market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 33% between 2023 and 2030. Although metaverse technologies could reinvent healthcare approaches and bring new experiences to healthcare providers and patients, adoption is still at an early stage. There are currently few use cases in the healthcare industry. The metaverse needs to overcome major challenges for healthcare, including regulation and data privacy concerns. Evidence of proven use cases and participation by a critical mass of users are imperative to drive a shift in metaverse investment.

Newsletters by sectors

close

Sign up to the newsletter: In Brief

Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Thank you for subscribing

View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network.

close