19.07.18
Health regulator calls for action in reducing radiology delays
There are significant variations in timescales for reporting on radiology examinations leading to delayed and potentially erroneous patient x-ray results, the health watchdog has said.
In a report today by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the quality regulator raises concerns about the lack of agreed best practice for radiology sessions, and called for the development in national standards for turnaround times.
Between July 2016 and July 2017, the CQC uncovered “serious concerns” about the reporting of radiology examinations in the radiology departments at Worcester Royal Hospital, Kettering General Hospital and the Queen Alexandra Hospital.
Serious problems were found with delays in reporting on radiology examinations, leading to a backlog and images that had only been reported on by non-radiology clinicians who were not adequately trained to do so.
Additionally, the CQC found “huge variations” in reporting times and how trusts monitored these.
The health regulator recommended that NHS trust boards should ensure they have “effective oversight” of any backlog of radiology reports, risks to patients are fully assessed and managed, and staffing and other resources are used effectively.
The CQC also recommended the National Imaging Optimisation Delivery Board should advise on national standards for report turnaround times (so trusts can benchmark their performance), and called on the Royal College of Radiologists and the Society and College of Radiographers to make clear frameworks develop to support trusts in managing turnaround times safely.
“Even trusts that we found were routinely monitoring turnaround times and performance against key performance indicators, as well as monitoring and managing unreported images, were sometimes struggling to provide timely reports,” the document said.
“This suggests that the problems we are seeing in reporting delays for radiology examinations cannot solely be addressed through improving governance and escalation processes in local trusts.”
Radiology is a key service that plays an essential role in diagnosing and monitoring a range of diseases and conditions from broken bones, to blood clots and gastrointestinal conditions.
Over the last five years, the use of radiology has grown more than 16%, with more than 42 million examinations carried out on NHS patients in England in 2016/17.
Issues with staffing were also found to be affecting reporting times, with a lack of radiologists available to meet current demand. Research by the CQC found that the average vacancy rate across all responding trusts was 14%.
Head of analysis at NHS Providers, Phillippa Hentsch, said: “The CQC is right to shine a light on the variation in radiology reporting in the NHS. NHS trusts are committed to providing safe and timely care and this report shows that some patients face unacceptable delays.
“We support the CQC’s recommendations for improvements at both trust level and nationally, to ensure trusts have robust governance in place and are able to benchmark performance, as well as addressing workforce shortages.”
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