Who'd have thought it? Where once there were shops, there will soon be X-rays and heart checks

 

The changing face of Freshney Place - retail makes way for diagnostics

WORK has started on creation of a hi-tec health-check clinic in the centre of  Grimsby.

Freshney Place premises that formerly accommodated five shops are being converted to a 'community diagnostic centre' which is due to open in autumn.

Family doctors will be able to refer patients here for ophthalmology, non-obstetric ultrasounds and a mixture of pathological and physiological tests such as  X-rays and electrocardiograms to check heart rhythms.

The initiative is being steered by North East Lincolnshire Council whose strategy and partnership director Ivan McConnell says: "Having this new facility  will help us to detect and treat serious conditions such as cancer, heart disease and respiratory conditions."

Details are awaited on staff recruitment and funding for salaries and diagnostic equipment.

It is not known on whether any treatment will be offered on site. 

All being well, there could be as many as 150,000 appointments a year  which should ease some of the pressure on the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital.

Preliminary speculation that it might be named the New Body Shop can be discounted. Officials say that this might make people think of mortuaries. 

Who might cut the ribbon at the grand opening ceremony? Possibly Louth and Horncastle MP Victoria Atkins, the current Health Secretary.  

The Grimsby News says: So long as it can be adequately staffed and funded, a new diagnostic centre is surely to be welcomed. But within the realm of a shopping centre? Isn't that the sort of place where people like to forget about their aches and pains? With this facility, they will be reminded of their ailments - past, present or future - as they pass it by. And for those patients visiting, then leaving the premises, there is also the question of privacy. Understandably some will be embarrassed, if encountering an acquaintant, to be quizzed with the inevitable words: "what’s wrong with you?"

                                    

Checking things out -  from left, Mark Edgar, Cllr Stan Shreeve, Cllr Philip Jackson, Helen Kenyon and  Ivan McConnell