18th December 2009
Two London NHS trusts commission Nighthawk services
Two London NHS Trusts, who between them serve more than 1.25 million people, have asked Medica to provide Nighthawk teleradiology services.
The South London NHS Trust and the Whittington Hospital NHS Trust, which is based in north Islington, have strengthened their out-of-hours radiology services by signing up for the service, which provides a guaranteed one hour turnaround time using UK qualified, UK resident and UK practising consultant radiologists.
Earlier this year, the South London NHS Trust was formed by merging Queen’s Mary Sidcup, Queen Elizabeth Woolwich and Bromley Hospitals to create ‘a single hospital on several sites’ serving more than one million people.
South London will be making full use of the Nighthawk service from 9pm each evening to 8am the following day.
Meanwhile the Whittington, which serves 250,000 people in north Islington and west Haringey, as well as taking patients from Camden, Barnet and Hackney, will use the service from 3am to 7am each day.
“Flexibility in when the service is delivered is important to Trusts as they each have their own requirements. In addition having a service that they pay only when they use it means that Trust budgets can be more effectively managed”, said Medica’s Chief Executive, Simon Rasalingham.
“What we find in common with all Trusts, however, is that it is often a struggle to plan on-call rotas or to cover for holidays, study leave and staff shortages”.
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.
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