23rd November 2009
West Middlesex blazes new ultrasound trail with Medica
A ground-breaking project by West Middlesex University Hospital Trust to reduce a backlog of ultrasound scans has resulted in thousands of patients benefiting from a better health service.
The project involved Medica, the largest remote reporting network in the UK, providing consultant radiologists to run additional clinics after 5pm.
Regular additional clinics saw the hospital dramatically reduce its waiting list for ultrasound scans and also provided the very highest standards of reporting to its patients.
The hospital, which holds the Charter Mark for excellence in customer service for both its maternity and sexual health services, adopted a number of solutions to eliminate the backlog of scan requests employing additional staff of their own.
The idea of asking a teleradiology company to provide consultant radiologists came from Dr Tom Naunton Morgan - himself a consultant radiologist at West Middlesex.
Dr Naunton Morgan, said the Medica project had been an outstanding success and confirmed the hospital’s reputation as a provider that got things done for its patients.
“We have a very, very busy radiology department here and, like many departments around the country, no matter how hard we worked we could not make inroads into the backlog. We have had to adopt a range of solutions to reducing the waiting time for scans.
“I must say, Medica’s consultants were first-class – all were experienced UK-trained and practising Fellows of the Royal College of Radiologists so that gives you confidence straight away. They happily worked with our systems and ran the clinics very well.
“Our patients are happy because they are having their ultrasound scans on time and we are happy because they are getting a gold standard service.”
Medica Chief Executive Simon Rasalingham admitted that it was an unusual project for a remote reporting service to take on.
“Our team are more used to working from home and reporting on scans from several parts of the country. But they responded very well to the idea of actually going down to Isleworth to run the additional clinics.
“The levels of customer satisfaction we have had are very high and, if the logistics were right, it is something we would consider doing again.”
For further information about this news article, contact John V. Wright, Blue Planet Communications, 01782 711978.
Notes to Editors
The Medica Group partners more than 70 NHS Trusts across the country and today operates the largest remote radiology reporting network in the UK.
In May 2008, the British Medical Association (BMA), warned that there was a shortage of consultant radiologists in the country to meet increasing demand for emergency interventional treatments, diagnostic imaging and screening.
It estimated that 1,300 extra consultant radiologists were needed in the NHS in England in the coming years.
For further information on our remote Reporting Service, please telephone
0845 0569 750 and ask for the Business Development Team, or email us: info@medicagroup.co.uk
