This week, the NHS Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) at Broad Street Plaza, Halifax celebrated its first birthday.
Since opening in July 2024, the CDC has given almost 80,000 diagnostic tests, including X-Rays, blood tests and scans, to people out of hospital, closer to home in the community. The hugely successful centre, at the heart of the Halifax community, is making sure that patients are seen quicker, in a more convenient, purpose-built environment.
Located at Broad Street Plaza, the Halifax CDC gives patients who are referred to Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, planned outpatient tests, including x-rays, ultrasounds, and CT scans, as well as other diagnostic testing, such as blood pressure and heart monitoring. Just a year ago, patients had to come into hospital for these tests. Now patients can be seen in an easily accessible location in the centre of Halifax, close to numerous car parks, local amenities, and within a five-minute walk from Halifax Bus Station. The building is equipped with modern facilities and state-of-the-art equipment built with patient experience in mind.
The CDC has also supported other hospital-based services to deliver care in the community. One of these services is the new ‘Telederm’ service where diagnostic images are taken at the CDC rather than have a face-to-face appointment in the hospital, which is leading to faster cancer diagnosis, and reducing the amount of time it takes for a patient to be seen. Other services now available at the CDC include a gynaecology clinic and breathlessness pathway. Upcoming services are planned to include children and young people’s asthma pathway and scans for liver health.
Director of Operations for Families and Specialist Services Division, at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) Sarah Clenton, has led the work on the Halifax CDC from the beginning. Sarah said: “We have a vision for our CDCs to run the majority of planned diagnostic tests and activity that would normally be done in hospital.
“We now deliver approximately 2,000 tests every week at Halifax CDC. For patients, it means that they are seen and treated quicker, in a more appropriate setting, all closer to home.
“We have had so much success, and great feedback from our patients, and colleagues about the care we give at the CDC. I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who has been a part of the past year, and I am excited to see just how much we deliver in the year ahead.”
Minister for Elective Care, Karin Smyth said: “One year in, it is clear that Halifax CDC is making a real difference to people across Calderdale and Huddersfield.
"Patients deserve to get the care they need without lengthy waits. That’s why we are opening more centres like this and extending opening hours to 12 hours a day, seven days a week, to give patients vital tests and scans at times that suit them, in more convenient locations.
“This approach is at the heart of our 10 Year Health Plan, providing better care, closer to home as we continue our mission to cut waiting lists and get the NHS working for patients once again."
Medical Photographer, Chantal Scurr, works in the CDC’s teledermatology clinic. She said: “The CDC means that for many patients, they don’t need a face-to-face dermatology appointment.
“After their medical photographs are reviewed virtually by the dermatology team, patients can be discharged or referred on for follow-up treatment. This can save patients having to visit the hospital and is helping reduce the waiting time for patients to be seen.”
Clinical Support Worker, Emma Wood, said: “Our CDC is helping take the pressure off our hospitals and our patients. Waiting lists are reducing and patients tell us they feel less anxious coming to the CDC than going into hospital.
“Even a year later we’re still hearing how much patients love the environment – almost daily we’re told it feels like a spa.”
CHFT are also due to open a second CDC in the Emily Siddon Building at The University of Huddersfield Health Innovation Campus in January 2026.
