Nick Timothy — the MP for West Suffolk — visited Newmarket Community Hospital on Friday 30 August 2024.
He was grateful to be given a sneak peak of the progress that has been made on the construction of the new £15 million Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC).
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust Chief Executive Dr Ewen Cameron and senior project manager for the project, Matthew Clarke, were kind enough to give Nick a tour of the Hospital and the new CDC construction site.
Dr Cameron said: “Providing high quality and safe care closer to where our communities live is a priority for our Trust, and we are excited to open this new facility later this year which will help us deliver that ambition.”
Nick was also shown around Newmarket Community Hospital by nurses, where he had the chance to meet and chat with a patient, Barbara, who praised the care received.
The Newmarket CDC is set to provide high-quality diagnostic services for local people, with an aim of delivering around 100,000 outpatient tests each year, including CT, MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, blood tests and lung and heart scans.
Nick said: “It was wonderful to meet the nursing staff and some of the patients at Newmarket Community Hospital. It’s clearly a first-rate team and we are all appreciative of the care they provide.
“The construction of the new facility is massively impressive and it is very exciting news for Newmarket. When it opens, residents from the town and people living nearby will be able to get scans and checks faster and more easily in a state-of-the art facility.
“It was great to see first-hand how the centre is being built with the best of modern techniques and technologies. I was delighted to meet the brilliant staff and construction crews. They are working extremely hard to ensure the vision of this impressive new facility becomes a reality very soon.”
Learning about the design and construction methods of the CDC, Nick was shown how the use of low carbon prefabricated materials, as well as the incorporation of sustainable construction methods, are helping the NHS meet its net zero targets.
The project features the installation of more than 120 solar panels across the Newmarket Community Hospital site which will generate more than 40% of the building’s energy requirements, as well as modern building techniques, which has thus far saved enough carbon to power 21 homes for a year.
