By Carole Dennett
A breaking ground ceremony took place at St Mary’s Hospital on Wednesday to mark the start of construction on a major extension to the Island’s Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC). The new development will house a dedicated breast health and imaging unit, bringing together services that are currently split between different parts of the hospital.
At present, patients attending the symptomatic breast clinic often have to travel from the South Hospital to the North Hospital for different stages of their appointment. The new facility will allow all imaging, assessment, and consultation, to take place under one roof, reducing anxiety, improving privacy, and cutting down the time patients spend moving around the site.
Joe Smyth, chief officer of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, said the expansion had been planned since the CDC first opened. “When we built this unit, we always anticipated adding a breast symptomatic screening service,” he explained. “COVID and rising construction costs delayed that phase but we designed the building so we could ‘plug in’ the extension as soon as funding became available.”
The £6.2 million project will also include a new CT scanner, increasing capacity on the Island, and reducing the need for some patients to travel to Portsmouth for specialist imaging. Clinical teams say the new layout will allow more one-stop appointments, where diagnostics, results, and treatment planning can happen on the same day.
Consultant breast surgeon, Lorna Cook, described the development as “a game changer”, adding: “We know patients are anxious when they come to us. Minimising travel, improving dignity, and speeding up the process will make a real difference.”
The new unit is expected to open in November.