Consultants behind new unit at Newmarket Community Hospital in the running for top national award

A team of consultants is in the running for a national award for its work in delivering the new community diagnostic centre (CDC) at Newmarket Community Hospital.

Castons Artelia has earned a place on the shortlist in the new build project of the year category at the Healthcare Estates Awards after project managing and quantity surveying for the centre’s construction last year in collaboration with partners KLH Architects, JSH, Morgan Sindall, Sweco and the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT).

The multi-million pound unit has proved an instant success for the trust, seeing more than 6,000 patients and completing almost 8,900 examinations in its first 100 days of operation. It will carry out approximately 100,000 tests a year.

“The Newmarket Hospital CDC is a project we are truly proud of, bringing together our local partners to deliver a healthcare facility that is already making waves in the way it is revolutionising community healthcare,” said Adam Fuller, senior project surveyor at Castons.

“Of course we are hoping for a win but regardless, the real winners are the people living in and around Newmarket who now have access to first-class diagnostic facilities right on their doorstep, delivered by their incredible local NHS teams.”

The centre uses state-of-the-art equipment to provide the highest quality care while tackling waiting times and optimising patient experience.

Its features include MRI, CT, X-ray and ultrasound scanners, alongside equipment to provide both heart and lung scans.

For MRI patients specifically, the centre helped reduce the trust’s waiting list by 37 per cent in just six months.

Nicola Booth, head of estates and development at WSFT, said: “We are delighted that our new community diagnostics centre has been nominated for this award.

“It is thanks to the hard work and collaborative efforts of everyone involved that we were able to deliver this project on time, under budget, exceeding exceptional carbon reduction targets in the design and construction.

“We are seeing that this facility is making a real difference, and has helped us improve waiting times and ensure patients get the care they need much more quickly, in a high quality, modern facility.”