Project Status - Completed
- Start Date: June 2020
- End Date: March 2021
- Local Growth Fund allocation: £2,740,000
- Awarded to: The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Project Summary
The creation of a Histopathology Diagnostic Hub at Royal Bournemouth Hospital within the wider development of a Pathology Hub in Dorset.
The objective of the project is to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the Dorset NHS service on behalf of all its users, serving the entire Dorset population and beyond.
Diagnostic testing has an ever-increasing role in healthcare, with pathology used in over 80% of patient pathways to inform diagnoses and ongoing treatment plans. Every person in Dorset will use the service at some point in their life. Pathology covers a simple blood test to advanced genetic screening.
By improving diagnostic services within Dorset, Dorset could be at the front-edge of histopathology diagnostics. In particular, the benefits of digitisation of diagnostic activities and the application of AI could potentially lead to improved quality and reduced times of diagnosis for illness such as cancers. The societal benefits appear significant and fit closely to the strategic objectives of the Dorset Local Industrial Strategy regarding medical technologies and meeting the ‘ageing society’ challenge. Improved pathology services are an important asset in improving ‘healthy ageing’.
The Histopathology Diagnostic Hub is expected to open in December 2022.
Outcomes:
- 500m2 of high quality histopathology laboratory, and associated support space
- Over 120 jobs safeguarded on the Wessex Fields site, with high ratio of upskilled jobs
- £20.1m additional public sector investment leveraged
- £4,425,000 GVA
- £410,000 reduction in the use of outsourcing service providers/locum pathologists to provide cancer diagnostic services (Histology)
- 90% improvement in cancer diagnostic turnaround times (Histology)
View the End of Project Report
