New endoscopy unit in Swindon will help extra 6,000 patients get care sooner

More than 6,000 extra diagnostic appointments will be made available to patients in Swindon thanks to a new community endoscopy unit, which is currently being built in the town.

Construction 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.

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.

The new endoscopy unit, which will be managed by clinical teams from Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is an expansion of the Community Diagnostic Centre which opened last year in West Swindon, which currently offers patients CT and MRI scanning in a community location. It is one of three new centres across Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, thanks to a £14 million investment by the local NHS.

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.”

Since April 2024, more than 15,000 patients from across the region have received a test or investigation, such as a CT scan, X-ray or endoscopy procedure, at one of the three new centres.

By April 2025, it is expected that around 60,000 local people will have visited one or more of the centres for a diagnostic test.

Further information about community diagnostic centres in Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire can be found online www.bsw.icb.nhs.uk