Enter and view: Burnley CDC

Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen undertook an announced enter and view visit to Burnley Community Diagnostic Centre on 28 February 2024.  This was commissioned by Healthwatch England as part of a project to assess community diagnostic hubs.  They spoke to 10 patients.

Burnley Community Diagnostic Centre is located within Burnley General Hospital and is a ‘spoke’ site. It is easily accessible by public transport for people who live locally but for patients travelling from Blackburn with Darwen, travel proved an issue with one patient taking over 2 hours to get there on public transport. Parking was a significant issue for some patients, with some struggling to find a space available. 

People’s experiences of accessing diagnostic tests and scans at the centre were very positive with people finding the centre comfortable, tests took place on time and all found the staff lovely and attentive. All patients who had any questions about their tests had these answered adequately by staff and all felt that their privacy and dignity were maintained at all times. 

The location and ease of access of the centre was the most important factor for patients. None of the patients had been offered a choice of location and time for their appointment, and whilst for the majority this was not an issue, some would have preferred a choice of somewhere closer to home or an appointment time to find around caring responsibilities. Offering choices where possible to patients would be beneficial. 

All of the patients felt they were well informed about what to expect from the appointment and had information to take away from the appointment. 

There was a lack of awareness of what a community diagnostic centre is amongst patients and as such a lack of expectation of what this would be like. Increased promotion of the centre both with patients and primary care providers would be beneficial. 

The departments were accessible, bright, warm and clean. All of the staff were very welcoming and there was a wide range of information on health topics available. However, there are some areas which management may wish to consider in terms of accessibility of the building for more vulnerable patients, some of which are also being looked into. The flooring in several areas of the building where endoscopy is located are not dementia friendly and could be quite disorienting. One patient struggled with the signage throughout the hospital building and took 30 minutes to find the relevant department. There was no dedicated quiet space available for patients to access in either department. 

Patients’ experiences were generally very positive, with appointments being on time, quick and with supportive lovely staff.