Work under way at Hereford’s £18m diagnostic centre

Work has begun on the ground to create a new centre for Herefordshire intended to catch life-threatening diseases early.

Behind the B&Q store off Hereford’s Holmer Road, the Wye Valley Diagnostic Centre will bring state-of-the-art MRI, CT, X-ray and ultrasound equipment capable of diagnosing cancer and other health conditions earlier and with greater accuracy.

It will also provide testing for heart and breathing conditions and blood testing.

It is being built, and will be run, by Wye Valley NHS Trust (WVT) which also runs the County Hospital and the county’s other community hospitals.

The £18-million facility is backed by funding from NHS England and is being built by Speller Metcalfe. It forms part of a national strategy to bring in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) across England.

Clad in black metal with timber detailing, the new two-storey building is intended to achieve an “excellent” BREEAM rating, a measure of a building’s sustainability in terms of insulation, natural light and water conservation.

With planning permission having been secured last month, contractors have now begun work on site.

“This is great news for local people,” WVT’s strategy and planning officer Alan Dawson said.

“The new centre will offer patients a wide range of diagnostic tests closer to their homes without the need to attend any of our hospital sites, and greater choice on where and how they are treated, reducing the need for hospital visits and helping them to receive potentially life-saving care sooner.”

The new centre “will lead to improved patient experience and outcomes and will contribute to shorter waits for people from Herefordshire and beyond”, he added.