21 April 2017
The BIR responds to NHS England announcement on increase in emergency mechanical thrombectomy in hospitals
The British Institute of Radiology (BIR) welcomes the announcement by NHS England that of the intention to roll out emergency mechanical thrombectomy in hospitals.
The implementation of this procedure more widely will clearly reduce disability and long term complications for people with stroke.
However there needs to be a clear policy to recruit the staff required to cope with the increase in demand for this service and investment in the infrastructure and equipment in emergency departments.
Dr Sri Redla, Chair of the BIR Clinical Imaging Special Interest Group said “The introduction of this new initiative is dependant on sufficient number of diagnostic radiologists with the relevant expertise to interpret scans, as well as sufficient number of radiographers to provide accurate images. We also clearly need enough neuroradiologists and 24-hour access to their expert services, for the NHS to provide this life-saving and disability limiting procedure."
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