2 July 2019
Hats off to the radiology department at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) which has been placed among the top six trusts nationwide in a review of radiology reporting standards in NHS organisations published by the Care Quality Commission(CQC).
The radiology department at PAHT processes 20,000 radiology images a month and has been at the forefront of adopting a new system, from Agfa Healthcare, which is being rolled out in the NHS.
Dr Sri Redla, Consultant Radiologist and Associate Medical Director for Cancer, Cardiology and Clinical support services at the trust said: “Before we implemented the system we would have undoubtedly been ranked in the 20s for ED and in the teens for inpatients.
“The trust is now able to see more patients, more quickly and provide a faster and a highly efficient diagnostic service without compromising on quality.”
Stephen Townrow, Imaging Systems Manager added: “Within just a few months of using the system the Trust has been able to significantly improve patient care. Resources are used effectively to ensure examinations are reported in an appropriate timeframe as recommended by NHS England’s National Review of Radiology Reporting. Using Enterprise Imaging means that we often have reporting completed in real-time, which means zero backlog of images requiring reports.”
New standards were published last year by the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) after the CQC identified a lack of national standards in reporting radiology patient examinations. The RCR responded by developing a reporting framework. A range of standards were adopted including that reporting should prompt appropriate care and that the language used should be unambiguous. The result is quicker diagnosis and treatment.
