Lincolnshire CDCs enhance patient care with advanced CT and ultrasound technology, delivering faster diagnostics and greater local access

• 40% reduction in routine diagnostics pressure at Lincolnshire’s hospitals
• AI-powered automation has resulted in reduced CT scan time from 15 minutes to 8/9 minutes
• 140% increase on non-obstetric ultrasound scans in 2025-2026, compared to pre-COVID-19 pandemic

Canon Medical Systems UK, Crawley, 29^th October 2025 – As part of a transformative initiative to bring essential diagnostic services closer to patients and reduce wait times, United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (ULTH) has equipped its three Community Diagnostics Centres (CDCs) in Lincoln, Skegness, and Grantham with the latest CT and ultrasound technology from Canon Medical Systems.

Fitted with four Aquilion Prime SP CTs and seven Aplio i-series / Prism Edition ultrasound systems, more than 100,000 CT scans and 130,000 ultrasound scans per year are performed on these systems.

With a focus on early diagnosis and prevention, particularly for the ageing population who often face challenges accessing hospital-based care, the conveniently located CDCs are also actively improving patient outcomes by reducing the burden of travel for more rural and coastal parts of the community, easing hospital congestion, and making appointments more accessible and inviting.

Increasing capacity for CT services

The recently installed Aquilion Prime SP scanners are significantly enhancing productivity and capacity within CT services across the CDCs, enabling a faster route to treatment. Leveraging AI-powered automation, the new systems optimise diagnostic workflows by streamlining image acquisition and set-up protocols in real time (including patient positioning and radiation dose). This has resulted in a reduction in scan time from approximately 15 minutes to just eight or nine minutes. The high-speed imaging capability also allows for exceptionally detailed visuals, leading to improved diagnostic accuracy and confidence.

Afra Sulfikher, Trust-wide CT Lead at ULTH, commented, “Choosing the right CT scanners for our community diagnostic centres was a bit like picking the perfect family car – we needed something reliable, safe and comfortable for everyone – radiographers and our broad cohort of patients. The wide-open design of the new systems has been praised by patients who might otherwise be afraid of the confined space in the scanners.

“By investing in new scanners with Canon Medical, the advances in technology has allowed us to access improved image quality with lower radiation doses. It’s comparable to getting a clearer photo but with less flash. As part of the support package, our teams have also been able to access radiographer training, ongoing maintenance, and future upgrades,” added Afra.

Built-in predictive maintenance features and remote diagnostic support and troubleshooting have also ensured near-continuous uptime for the new CT scanners, with most issues resolved overnight without requiring on-site intervention.

In addition, the system’s capacity for seamless software upgrades enables clinicians to adopt new scanning techniques without any downtime, optimising both patient throughput and service efficiency.

Supported by the new CT equipment, lung cancer screening and rapid access angina clinics are two programmes already demonstrating significant improvements in diagnostic speed and care delivery. In the lung cancer pathway, patients can now be assessed in a community setting and, if needed, receive a chest X-ray the same day, which is reported immediately by advanced practitioners. Those requiring further evaluation are either booked for CT or offered same-day scanning - a shift made possible by enhanced local capacity and streamlined imaging workflows.

Similarly, rapid access angina clinics now offer same-day cardiac CT scans for patients with suspected angina, following a clinical review by cardiology specialists or advanced clinical practitioners. Previously, patients would wait up to seven weeks for results; now, many patients leave with diagnostic results reported the very same day.

Afra commented, “Having the capacity to offer same-day results and follow-up scans is fantastic. Patients are naturally anxious when they come for these tests, so reducing the wait between appointments can minimise this.”

Unlocking new capabilities for ultrasound

In addition to CT, a range of ultrasound services are also now available across the CDCs, including general medical, gynaecology, musculoskeletal (MSK) and paediatric ultrasound. These services combined receive approximately 500 patients each week - patients who would have otherwise had to wait for availability and travel to the acute site.

Gemma Webb, Modality Lead Ultrasound at ULTH, commented, “We are familiar with how the equipment works having worked with Canon Medical previously, so there hasn't been the need for additional training, presets are ready to go, and where we have needed app support, this has been seamless. This has meant we’ve been able to hit the ground running.”

“As we increase our capacity within the CDCs, we expect to conduct over 24,000 non-obstetric ultrasound scans in 2025-2026, an approximate 140% increase on activity at the Trust when compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.. Continuity and familiarity with the equipment is essential as our staff continue to rotate across all sites to manage demand. We need images to be consistent and of a high quality.”

The new ultrasound systems are also playing a key role in enabling the Trust to meet updated national guidelines for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance and deliver on quality improvement targets. HCC is the most common form of primary liver cancer, which makes up 85% of all liver cancers.^[1] In Lincolnshire, where one in ten people live with liver fibrosis^[2], around 7,000 patients are expected to join the surveillance programme, driving demand for an additional 12,000 ultrasound examinations each year. With the addition of the shear wave/liver analysis package within the Aplio i-series systems, the Trust can ensure robust assessment of fibrotic livers and identify patients at risk of progression, enabling treatment pathways to be accelerated.

Gemma added, “From an ultrasound point of view, we’re trying to streamline the patient journey and reduce the number of visits. Currently, our standard ultrasound liver screening can identify fatty livers and liver stasis, but there's no way of deciphering a simple fatty liver from fibrosis – the new shear wave technology helps us overcome that.”

A human-centred approach to care

Whilst greater appointment access and reduction of waiting lists have been a large focus for the programme, the Trust is also redefining the patient experience.

“The creation of the CDCs has allowed us to separate our planned and emergency diagnostic testing. The calm, non-hospital environment of the CDCs makes patients feel more comfortable about coming in for their planned appointments, and staff have welcomed the protected time to focus on patient interaction and reassurance. This in turn has generated more emergency capacity within our acute hospital sites so those using our urgent care and inpatient pathways can be seen quicker.

“This isn’t just about faster scans or new equipment. It’s about giving our staff the tools to deliver compassionate, responsive care. The technology is supporting the human side of healthcare,” Afra concluded.