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27
Mar
New Harrogate community diagnostics centre to cost £12.25 million
A plan to create a new community diagnostics centre in Harrogate is set to cost £12.25 million.
The Stray Ferret revealed in January that Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust proposed to create the facility as the trust continues to struggle to meet diagnostic waiting time targets due to increased demand.
The centre would include CT, MRI and X-ray scanners and help to diagnose conditions earlier so patients can start treatment quicker.
Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of the trust, said previously that the hospital was struggling due to an “ongoing mismatch between capacity and demand”.C
Now, a trust spokesperson has confirmed to the Stray Ferret that the centre is set to cost £12.25 million.
While the trust has yet to finalise a location for the facility, it said it was considering sites in Harrogate town centre with “good access”.
A spokesperson added:
Early access to diagnostics is vital to patients and central to improving outcomes. Early diagnosis of cancer, for example, improves survival rates, and long waits for diagnostic tests can delay the start of treatment.
The community diagnostics centre will increase access to diagnostic tests, reduce waiting times, enable earlier diagnosis, and ease pressure on Harrogate District Hospital, where most local diagnostic services are currently provided.
Proposed services include Imaging – CT, MRI, X‑ray, ultrasound; phlebotomy; cardiorespiratory; and the lung cancer screening programme.
The trust has been in discussions with North Yorkshire’s Integrated Care Board and NHS England over the potential for a diagnostics centre to help tackle the problem.
Mr Coulter told a board meeting on Wednesday (March 25) that capital for the project had been earmarked at a national level and that “revenue required to support such a development has now been agreed”.
Jonathan Coulter, chief executive at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.
Mr Coulter said previously that the issue highlighted a need for "greater resilience and capacity" which a community diagnostics centre would help with.
According to national standards, NHS bodies are expected to provide patients with a diagnostic test in no more than six weeks. Less than 1% should wait more than that time.
However, in January 2026, the Harrogate trust reported that just 49% of patients were waiting less than six weeks.
The move comes as the trust opened a new community diagnostics centre in Ripon in May 2024.
The £1 million centre, which is based at Ripon Community Hospital, has the capacity to deliver more than 27,000 checks a year.
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