ModuleCo has completed and handed over a new MRI community diagnostic centre at Furness General Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness, as part of the NHS’s Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) programme.
Developed in close partnership with University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), the new CDC will expand the hospital’s imaging capacity and accelerate patient diagnoses.
Funded through the national CDC initiative, which is establishing dozens of diagnostic hubs across England, the new imaging hub, Croslands Community Diagnostic Centre, is located on the Furness General Hospital site, to the rear of the existing Croslands building. It will be run jointly by UHMBT and local primary care partners, bringing services out of the main hospital and into a dedicated facility within the community. The aim is to offer a ‘one stop shop’ for tests, meaning patients can get multiple diagnostic procedures done in one visit. Patients will access the new centre via GP or specialist referral, rather than having to travel to larger regional hospitals for advanced scans.
The new CD incorporates:
- An MRI scanner suite with separate operator control room.
- A patient preparation area and a recovery area for post-scan care.
- Patient changing facilities, plus a reception and waiting area.
- Three clinical consulting/exam rooms for additional tests and patient consultations.
Joanne Park, Head of Radiology at Furness General Hospital, said: “It will be a huge improvement for our patients, who will be able to come directly into the new centre and won’t have to wait in the Outpatients Reception or go to different areas of the hospital for tests”.
ModuleCo delivered the Furness CDC using what it dubs its ‘innovative offsite construction approach’, enabling a rapid and efficient build. The single-storey building was manufactured as a series of modules in its factory, and delivered to site at approximately 90% complete. This ‘factory-first’ method allowed on-site foundations and enabling works to proceed in parallel with off-site fabrication. As a result, overall project timelines were significantly shortened, and disruption to the hospital campus minimised.
The new building was installed on a previously unused piece of land at FGH earmarked for capacity expansion. ModuleCo’s team worked closely with the Trust’s Estates and clinical teams throughout the design and construction, to ensure that the facility was tailored to the hospital’s needs, and ready for immediate integration upon delivery.
The new centre frees up space within Furness General’s main building, reducing pressure on acute hospital services and enabling the hospital to focus on inpatient and emergency care while routine diagnostics happen in parallel at the CDC.
