Professor Sir Mike Richards recently visited Queen Mary’s Hospital to see the new community diagnostic centre.

Sir Mike Richards has held a number of roles at both NHS England and the Department of Health, and most recently published a review of diagnostic services as part of NHS England’s Long Term Plan.

The review recommended that community diagnostic hubs or ‘one stop shops’ should be created across the country, away from hospitals, so that patients can receive life-saving checks close to their homes.

Our teams, led by Kate Slemeck, Managing Director for St George’s, Ann Brierley, Chief Operating Officer for St George’s, and Rachael Benson, Divisional Director of Operations for CWDTC, gave Sir Mike a tour of diagnostics, which included the phlebotomy and imaging services, as well as the Surgical Treatment Centre.

Sir Mike told us: “It was a pleasure to visit Queen Mary’s today and to see a community diagnostic centre in action. The teams at St George’s, Kingston and across the NHS in south west London have done a wonderful job establishing the centre, which is already making a real difference and helping make diagnostic checks more accessible for patients.”

Kate Slemeck, Managing Director for St George’s Hospital, said: “Sir Mike was hugely impressed with the work we have done to launch the community diagnostic centre at Queen Mary’s, and our staff did an excellent job demonstrating the impact the service is having for our local communities.

“I want to pass on a big thank you and well done to all of our teams that have been involved in this work and for the many members of staff involved in making the visit so worthwhile.”