Northgate hospital in Yarmouth could get new diagnostic unit

The James Paget University Hospital has applied to Great Yarmouth Borough Council to build a community diagnostic centre at the Cranbrook Centre at Northgate Hospital.

The refurbished and extended building would provide a CT scanner, five consulting rooms and six treatment rooms as well as two echo rooms with associated ancillary accommodation.

The application proposes to redevelop a small area of the wider Northgate Hospital site within Great Yarmouth.

A new community diagnostic centre could be built at Northgate hospital in Great Yarmouth. (Image: Google Maps)

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According to documents submitted with the application, there are "broad ranges of deprivation" in the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care System (ICS) - with both Norwich and Great Yarmouth being hotspots. 

It is hoped the new unit, which would employ 40 staff, would "significantly improve healthcare services" in and around Great Yarmouth by shortening waiting list times and reducing travel.

Last month, it was revealed that the James Paget hospital in Gorleston had the second longest waiting times for routine treatments for patients in England.

For non-urgent conditions, people should be seen for treatment within 18 weeks of being referred.

But figures from the NHS for the end of January show that 58.6pc of patients at the James Paget Hospital were waiting for longer. The national average was just over 40pc.

Northgate Hospital provides a number of mental health services and consists of multiple healthcare facilities on site including a Wellbeing Centre and Occupational Therapy Day Hospital.

The Cranbrook Centre has had multiple uses over the years but currently the ground floor is mostly vacant and used partly as storage and the first floor is being used as offices.

It comes as the James Paget continues to forge with its rebuild programme, following government investment.