The first patients to undergo potentially life-saving tests at South Tyneside District Hospital's new £10m integrated diagnostic centre have welcomed the "wonderful" new building.
The centre - built in partnership by the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust and the firm Alliance Medical - is part of the trust's effort to bring down waiting lists and make vital diagnostic tests such as CT and MRI scans more convenient for patients. Work began on the building in January 2022, following planning permission being granted in the previous December.
It has been built on the site of now-demolished buildings historically used as nurses accommodation. Sunderland-based firm Brims carried out the construction.
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Now the first patients have been through the doors, and the very first - John Goss, 73 and from Washington - was full of praise. Attending for investigations into crackling in his chest, he said: "I’d never been to the hospital in South Shields before, but found it easily and when I got to the front desk, they said ‘You’re our first ever patient’ and I thought what’s happening here!
“It was wonderful, it’s a lovely open building, spotlessly clean and I was very well looked after by the team."
Another early patient was Susan Smith, 66, who lives in Bowburn. The retired civil servant had previously been diagnosed with kidney stones and was in for a check-up. She said: "My experience was very good, it’s a lovely, airy unit. Going through the scanner, it was interesting hearing it whizz around but it was very quick and the team were very good."
Engineer Robert Quinn, 66, from Burdon Rise, on the outskirts of Sunderland, was also undergoing a kidney stone scan for the same condition. He said: “It’s very smart, it’s a very nice building, and I’d already heard about it through a family member.
“It’s been a nice experience and fast, I must admit, and the scanner itself was just like the one I’ve been through at Sunderland, it’s all quite straightforward."
The centre currently has two CT and two MRI scanners. They will be joined later this year by a PET-CT scanner, but in the meantime, a mobile PET scanner which visits the South Tyneside Hospital site regularly will continue to serve local people.
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