Enter and view: Rossendale CDC

Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen undertook an announced enter and view visit to Rossendale Community Diagnostic Centre on 26 January and 10 February.  They were commissioned by Healthwatch England to undertake it.  They spoke to 10 patients.

Rossendale Community Diagnostic Centre is located within a primary care health centre, locally known as ‘The Hub’ which is easily accessible by public transport. 

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 reassuring. 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 and although the majority of patients had not been offered a choice of location for their appointment, they did not feel this was important and one stated that they would always choose Rossendale CDC in future. 

Some of the patients did not feel they were well informed about what to expect from the appointment. None were given literature to take away with them after their scan, however they were all comfortable with not having this because they knew that their GP or specialist would talk them through the results and the CDC staff had explained next steps to them. 

There was a lack of awareness of what a community diagnostic centre is 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 building itself is 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 is not dementia friendly and could be quite disorienting and signs, particularly indicating what services are available on different floors, were in small print and could not be seen easily by either patients with visual impairment or wheelchair users due to the height of the sign. Some of the waiting areas could be fairly small to manage for wheelchair users too. 

The waiting area for cardiology and respiratory is rather confusing, however this is due to the fact that the building is in flux with new clinics being introduced across the last 12 months. Similarly there is no dedicated quiet space available for patients to access, however staff manage this on an adhoc basis. 

Patients’ experiences were very positive and the new offer of a CT scan and phlebotomy section at the CDC will both help alleviate waiting lists for local residents.