When I became the Member of Parliament in 2019, one of the biggest issues in Grantham centred on healthcare provision, given that the town was growing, the hospital’s services had gradually been reduced over several years and people were having to travel large distances for medical testing. It was very clear to me that we needed to see more investment in Grantham’s local provision, but more than that - a shift in focus from just treatment alone, to prevention.
Indeed this is true for the whole healthcare services sector in the UK. By diagnosing diseases and illnesses earlier, we can prevent the need for treatment and more severe health issues later on. It’s one of the reasons I worked so hard to secure a Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) for Grantham in 2022. I saw what was possible when you bring modern healthcare out of hospitals and into the heart of a community as a related, but separate additional provision.
Built on a former chicken hatchery on Gonerby Road, the Grantham CDC has since delivered over 100,000 diagnostic tests to local people, offering MRI and CT scans, blood tests, X-rays, and more. In 2024, we saw a £5 million expansion adding permanent state-of-the-art scanners. It is, quite simply, one of the most significant things to happen to healthcare in our area in a generation.
Now I want the same for Bourne.
Bourne is a growing town of nearly 18,000 people, yet it has no hospital. The nearest major health facility is Peterborough City Hospital and even Grantham’s CDC itself is 18 miles in the other direction. For elderly residents, for parents with young children, and for people in work who cannot afford to lose hours to travel for a single appointment, that distance is not just an inconvenience. It is a barrier to early diagnosis, and early diagnosis saves lives.
This matters especially in Lincolnshire, where 43% of our population is already over the age of 50, and demand for cancer screening, cardiovascular checks, and respiratory testing is only growing. We are, as the Centre for Ageing Better has noted, already living with the demographics that the rest of England will not see until 2043. I believe our healthcare infrastructure needs to reflect that reality.
The national CDC programme, launched by the previous Conservative government with £2.3 billion of investment, the largest in NHS diagnostic history, has now delivered nearly 15 million tests across 160 sites in England. In Lincolnshire alone, CDCs in Grantham, Lincoln, and Skegness are transforming how people access care. That kind of service should not depend on where you happen to live.
A CDC in Bourne would not need to be a vast facility, the Grantham model shows that a converted commercial building can house world-class diagnostics. Bourne has suitable sites, what it needs is the commitment to make it happen.
I will be writing to the NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board and raising this directly with the Health Secretary to make the case. But I also want to work with local community leaders, elected representatives of all parties and of course local people to make the case to national government.
It is right that as the town grows, so too should local services. I am determined to work to achieve this.
