NHS community diagnostic centres speeding up access to tests, survey finds

NHS England created the CDCs to help tackle the increasingly long waits for tests such as CT scans. Photograph: Lynne Cameron/PA

Patients are having important tests such as X-rays and scans more quickly thanks to the NHS’s rollout of a network of community diagnostic centres (CDCs), the health service’s patient champion has found.

The 160 CDCs now in operation across England have been opened over recent years to help patients get tested and diagnosed faster than by going to their GP or local hospital.