Debate set for new multi-million medical hub in Bilston

Walsall councillors are set to debate a future multi-million pound Bilston medical hub later this week.

The future Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC), scheduled to open in August 2028, is part of a national programme where 170 new sites have been approved across England.

Through the scheme £23.5million of funding has been allocated to the Walsall and Wolverhampton NHS Trusts to deliver the facility

Once complete the new CDC will provide ‘fairer, timelier and more convenient’ local access to NHS diagnostic services.

Meeting documents state that residents in both Walsall and Wolverhampton have seen healthy life expectancy decline in recent years, with residents in both areas developing long-term ill-health earlier than average in England.

Data shows that clinical care is typically estimated to account for around 10 to 20 per cent of variation in population health outcomes.

Currently, the nearest diagnostic services for those living in the two Black Country areas are at Walsall Manor, New Cross and Cannock Chase Hospital.

The level of growth in demand for this type of service has ‘increased significantly’ and officers warn that ‘efficiencies alone’ will not absorb the forecasted growth.

At the last meeting of full council, the authority’s leader Councillor Elaine Williams, confirmed that original proposals included a two-site model, with one site being based in Bilston and the other in the Saddlers Centre.

But due to ‘capital constraints’, the two sites were reduced to one, and Bilston was considered the ‘best option’.

In the report documents it said Bilston offers cross-boundary coverage and that it is capable of hosting diagnostic tools such as CT and MRI that are most demanding of space, infrastructure and workforce.

Councillors will meet to discuss the plans at a meeting on October 22 at Walsall Council House.

By Rachel Alexander | Local Democracy Reporting Service