The Department of Health and Social Care’s press release (18 August 2025) highlights a significant increase in the number of diagnostic tests being performed in the UK in its drive to improve patient safety.

The new initiative highlights that 100 Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) will now operate for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, thereby reducing the amount of time that people need to take off work for appointments, with patients able to attend at weekends, and before and after more usual work hours.

This is incredibly welcome news with figures showing over 1.6 million more tests and scans from July 2024 to June 2025 have been performed compared to the previous year, leading to a positive impact on cancer diagnosis times.

A CDC in Oldham has reduced lung cancer diagnosis times from 42 to 18.8 days, for example. The government is backing this scheme with a substantial £6 billion capital investment nationwide over five years, with £600 million committed for 2025-2026 to open new CDCs and extend hours.

On any assessment, this is welcome news, but improved diagnostic rates are only meaningful if those reduced wating times are mirrored throughout with any subsequent treatment, monitoring and rehabilitation the patient will need. For example, increased tests etc, mean more people are required to carry out those tests.

The NHS is facing a workforce crisis and the government needs a strong strategy to recruit and retain the necessary staff, such as radiologists, sonographers, and radiographers, to work during evenings and weekends. For example, I highlighted recently that a third of GPs say they plan to quit the profession in the next 5 years, which is a very worrying statistic.

Simply extending hours without a clear strategy and long-term planning could lead to burnout of staff, or a bottle neck of patients thereafter requiring treatment, which can’t be performed at a CDC of course, and may well require hospital admission.

Time will tell as we understand improvements to the NHS will not happen overnight, but these developments are really encouraging and I hope to see these continue.