Work starts on an endoscopy unit in Swindon that will help 6,000 patients per year

Vanguard Healthcare Solutions has partnered with Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to build a new community diagnostic hub that will provide more than 6,000 extra endoscopy appointments.

The additional appointments will be made available to patients across Swindon and Wiltshire thanks to a new community endoscopy unit, which is currently being built by Vanguard, using modern methods of construction. Building of the new facility, which will be based next to the existing West Swindon Health Centre, began earlier this week and is expected to last for approximately six months.

"For the last two years, the region’s new community diagnostic centres have been helping people in our communities to get tested far more quickly than before, and this state-of-the-art endoscopy unit is set to help us go even further."

The UK Government recently announced that the creation of additional community diagnostic centres or CDCs such as this one, will be key to its plans to drive down waiting times for essential procedures.

The facility is being built by Vanguard using modular buildings which have been designed and created, by its own healthcare specialist team at its factory in Hull, to meet the Trust’s specific needs.

The new endoscopy unit will be managed by clinical teams from the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

Claire Thompson, Chief Officer, Improvement and Partnerships, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to start 2025 with the news that building work on this new health facility is officially under way.

“For the last two years, the region’s new community diagnostic centres have been helping people in our communities to get tested far more quickly than before, and this state-of-the-art endoscopy unit is set to help us go even further.

“Waiting for a diagnostic test, especially when there is a possibility of something serious like cancer, can be an agonising experience, and one that no person would want to last longer than is absolutely necessary.

“This new community facility along with those already open and those planned for the future, will help us to reduce this anxiety for thousands of people, and ensure that if urgent treatment is needed, then it can begin as early as possible.”

"We are on a journey to make local health and care truly accessible for all and, by having more diagnostic services based outside of hospital and closer to people’s homes, we will be able to cut waiting times, see more patients and, most importantly, ensure people can stay healthier for longer."

Dr Amanda Webb, Chief Medical Officer, Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, said: “By successfully delivering these new community sites, the ICB is already acting in line with the government’s transformative ambition for the NHS, and I’m pleased that the vision recently laid out by the Prime Minister mirrors that of our own.

“We are on a journey to make local health and care truly accessible for all and, by having more diagnostic services based outside of hospital and closer to people’s homes, we will be able to cut waiting times, see more patients and, most importantly, ensure people can stay healthier for longer.

“This is an exciting time for the NHS in our region, and I’m truly proud that the changes we have spoken about for some time are now taking shape and will soon be having a tangible impact on the lives of local people.”

Vanguard’s UK Business Director, Simon Squirrell, said: “When up and running, the new site will be able to provide diagnostic care for approximately 6,000 patients each year, meaning more people will be able to receive investigative procedures, such as colonoscopies and gastroscopies, sooner and closer to home.

“Community diagnostic centres were recently highlighted as a major component of the government’s new elective reform plan, which aims to cut waiting lists and ensure that diagnoses of serious conditions, such as cancer, can happen more quickly.”

“By having more services that were once only available in larger hospitals, based in the community, people will be able to access care and, in many cases, receive important diagnoses more quickly. We are delighted to be supporting our colleagues in the NHS to deliver even more excellent patient care and essential procedures.”