Prime Highlights:
- Patients in England now have greater access to crucial health checks, with 100 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) open 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
- The expansion aims to make healthcare more convenient and accessible, offering evening and weekend services for tests like MRI scans, endoscopies, and blood tests.
Key Facts:
- There are currently 170 CDCs operating across England, often located in shopping centres, football stadiums, and university campuses.
- The NHS delivered 1.6 million more tests and scans between July 2024 and June 2025 compared with the same period the previous year.
Key Background
Patients across England now have easier access to crucial diagnostic tests, as the government expands evening and weekend services at community diagnostic centres (CDCs). The Department of Health announced that 100 CDCs are now open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, from July 2024. The move is expected to cut the waiting time and provide patients with more accessible care that involves tests (e.g., MRI scans, endoscopies, blood tests, etc.).
Currently, there are 170 CDCs operating in England, often located in shopping centres, football stadiums, and university campuses. Patients can access the facilities through referrals from GPs or hospital clinicians. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the changes are about making healthcare work around patients’ lives, noting that from early morning MRI scans to late evening blood tests, the extended hours are intended to put patients first.
It reported a 1.6 million increase in the number of tests and scans given by the NHS between July 2024 and June 2025 (compared with the same period the year before). Plans are also in place to build up to five additional CDCs by 2026 and to extend evening and weekend hours across all centres.
The expansion has been welcomed by leading health charities and medical bodies.UK said easier access to diagnostic tests would improve early detection and management of lung conditions, which remain the UK’s third biggest killer. Blood Cancer UK also praised the move but called for further action to tackle regional variations in diagnostic practices, particularly around blood tests and diagnostic pathways for blood cancers.
The society mentioned the necessity of timely diagnostics; however, it also raised the question that investment in the radiography workforce is unavoidable, because CDCs cannot operate without trained personnel.
The government says the expansion of CDCs is a key part of its healthcare reform strategy aimed at bringing services closer to local communities. Despite these obstacles, including staffing and regional consistency, the program is largely regarded as a positive move toward providing faster and more readily available health care to the patients within England.
