Team who supported development of Community Diagnostic Centre at FNCH win regional award
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB)'s Strategic Capital Schemes team have been recognised with a regional award for supporting the development of the £11.6m Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) at Florence Nightingale Community Hospital.
The team was honoured with the Retrofit Project award, which highlights a project or programme that has delivered better performance of an existing asset, at the East Midlands Constructing Excellence Awards 2025.They are also in the running for the national award later this month, celebrating their co-ordination of the large-scale development, which aims to deliver quicker access to diagnostic testing and results for patients in the Derbyshire community.
Over the last five years, diagnostic referrals at UHDB have increased by more than 25% and to support the demand, the CDCs allow for more than 1,000 additional tests per week, reducing waiting times to support prevention and early intervention.
The team was recognised regionally alongside partners Galliford Try, who worked on the project to build the state-of-the-art facility, which repurposed underused space on the Florence Nightingale Community Hospital site to create a modern CDC that is improving patient experience and helping reduce health inequalities in the community.
The centre offers new services and an expansion of existing services to significantly increase the number of patient tests taking place. These include the introduction of a third x-ray room, three new Computerised Tomography (CT) scanners, plus Cardiology and Respiratory services.
Changes have also been made to existing services such as breast screening that now includes a new prosthetic fitting room and a new clinical room, and the transfer of DeXA, which is an imaging test used to measure bone density, which was previously offered at Royal Derby Hospital.
Nicki Nichols, Programme Director, worked alongside Shelley Cummings, Project Manager and Rose Lambert, Deputy Project Manager, to ensure the successful delivery of the project.
Nicki said: "Everyone is very impressed with the quality of the final product, and we are immensely proud of the joint team that worked so well together."
Florence Nightingale Community Hospital was chosen for the CDC due to the existing X-Ray and MRI services at the site and the redundant Health Record space which was left empty when the team re-located to the Johnson Building in 2023.
During the project, the team worked closely with imaging colleagues to design the layout of the department and the individual rooms to a standard that would deliver the diagnostic scanning required.
To allow the site to continue to be operational during the development, the team phased the works and scheduled 'quiet times' to fit in with some of the clinical appointments to minimise noise disruption and prioritise patient care.
Shelley, who alongside her team will find out if they have won the national award at a ceremony on 7 November, added: "Being regional winners validates the hard work everyone put in to deliver a successful project."
The Community Diagnostic Centres are part of a £29.9m investment to create ‘one-stop shops’ that bring essential diagnostic testing closer to the local communities that need them the most, while supporting the local healthcare system by reducing hospital pressures, particularly during winter pressure and peak seasons.
There are two additional CDCs available or soon to open across UHDB. Ilkeston Community Hospital in Derbyshire has recently opened the doors of its CDC and is providing valuable services there, and the CDC at Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital in Tamworth is expected to be fully open later this year, while Community Hospitals in Whitworth and Walton are also forming part of the project.
More information on the Community Diagnostic Centres is available here >.