How can digital radiology support hospital radiology teams?

Radiology is a jigsaw piece in the patient journey puzzle, providing clinicians with crucial insight into their patient’s conditions.

Delays in the reporting of radiology images impacts on timely treatment and moving people along the patient pathway.

Radiology departments are under increasing pressure because of a national shortage of radiologists – the UK is currently short of 1,669 clinical radiologists, and over 200 vacancies have been unfilled for a year or more, according to the annual census released on 9 June by the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR).

Unless urgent action is taken the report projects that this shortfall could hit 39 per cent by 2026, equal to 3,166 clinical radiologists.

Digital health service provider Vital Radiology works across the NHS to reduce reporting backlogs around the clock.

Vital’s proprietary software offers full integration with NHS systems which provides radiologists with the full context of patients’ history throughout the entire reporting process, including access to prior imaging.

This helps to improve patient safety and aids in the production of high-quality definitive reports which supports more informed clinical decisions.

Tracking outsourced reports, images and managing communications can be a headache for radiology managers, but Vital Radiology have a user-friendly activity dashboard that makes it easy.

Radiology managers and administrative staff have instant access to the number of scans sent, the number of scans reported on, and any urgent findings – reducing the need for administration staff to chase up this information.

With a team of NHS radiologists including specialists, Vital handle reporting requests 24/7 with rapid report turnaround times ranging from 30 minutes for emergency services to 7-day backlog reporting.

By eliminating many of the tasks usually involved in outsourcing and reducing manual input involved in administrative duties, Vital strives to reduce waiting times by promoting more efficient reporting, saving time for the referring radiologist, and ensuring faster diagnostic results for patients.

If any reporting discrepancies do arise, Vital’s platform facilitates direct communication between the referrer and reporting radiologist.

This approach bypasses the traditional route for queries via the radiology manager and in-house radiologists, ultimately allowing hospitals to work more seamlessly to meet their reporting volume.

The group’s founder and CEO Dr Arun Chauhan discusses the rationale underlying Vital’s strong technological focus, saying:

“Healthcare and technology work hand in hand, so I value healthcare providers aligning their offerings with newer technological developments very highly.

“Technology brings a lot of quality into healthcare. This is the key focus that we have at Vital Radiology.

“All the technology we use improves efficiency, outcomes, and quality.”

To find out more about Vital Radiology’s services and how their team can support your reporting needs, contact them at [email protected].