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<\/p>\n75,000 patients have been seen at the Community Diagnostic Centre in Gateshead since it opened in 2024 at the defunct House of Fraser store<\/p>\n
Karin Smyth MP, Minister of State for Health visits the Metrocentre Community Diagnostic Centre.(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)<\/p>\n
A cutting-edge testing hub at the Metrocentre has been praised for showing the \u201cbest of the NHS<\/a>\u201d. Health minister Karin Smyth visited the Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) at the Gateshead<\/a> shopping mall on Thursday.<\/p>\n The multi-million pound hub opened in the old House of Fraser store in October 2024<\/a>, with the aim of taking test facilities out of crowded hospitals and into a more convenient location. 75,000 patients have been seen at the centre, which offers services including MRI scans, ultrasounds, and echocardiograms<\/a> and is now reporting among the fastest diagnostic times in the country \u2013 meaning people can start the treatment they need more quickly.<\/p>\n Ms Smyth said on her visit that the CDC was \u201cabsolutely what we call bringing the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, and we are seeing the best here in Gateshead\u201d \u2013 offering a less stressful environment for both patients and staff. She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: \u201cThis is exactly what we want to try and do. Patients like it because they can park, it is less stressful \u2013 talking to the clinicians, they recognise that people are less stressed when they come here. It doesn\u2019t feel like a hospital \u2013 it is not as busy, you haven\u2019t got the emergency going on, so people know that they will be seen on time, they will be very quick, and can get on with the rest of their day.\u201d<\/p>\n Since coming to power, Labour<\/a> has promised a major overhaul of the NHS to put more services into communities, cut waiting lists, and reduce bureaucracy. While there are 170 CDCs across England, the Metrocentre facility is currently the only one across all of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland<\/a>, or County Durham<\/a>. The other nearest ones are in Stockton and Workington.<\/p>\n Chief Cardiac Physiologist Gav Kandola talks to Karin Smyth MP, Minister of State for Health, as she visits the Metrocentre Community Diagnostic Centre.(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)<\/p>\n It opens from 8am to 8pm every day and is staffed by more than 130 NHS workers who rotate between hospital shifts and the CDC. Gareth Davies, the centre\u2019s clinical manager, said that the high-tech hub offered a \u201cbit of a relief\u201d and respite from hospital work that \u201cimproves mental health and reduces burnout\u201d among NHS staff.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cOne of the first comments I got when we opened was \u2018is this private?\u2019 Patients are so used to the NHS being quite frantic, erratic, lots of delays to your appointments. [Here] the general feel is that it is calm, because it is all planned, it is away from the acute side. All the appointments are timed so you have no acute patients or wards or emergencies getting ahead of your appointment.\u201d<\/p>\n The CDC is now looking to expand further into the defunct department store\u2019s footprint and expand the range of services it can offer. Sean Fenwick, acting chief executive of the Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, confirmed there are \u201cdefinitive plans for phase two\u201d of its development and that it would \u201ccontinue to grow and flourish\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"Chief](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769763971_251_0_Ministerial-visit-to-the-Metrocentre-CommunityDiagnostic-Centre.jpg\")
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