Optimizing patient care in radiology through team-working: A case study

Objectives:
To investigate how changes in service delivery within the radiology department of an acute district general hospital optimized imaging services for patients and referrers through a strong emphasis on team-working.
Methods: Data related to service delivery was collected for three consecutive years and interrogated by imaging modality and reporting practitioner (radiologist, reporting radiographer, sonographer) to explore how workload had changed over the cycle.

Results:
Departmental activity demonstrated consistent increases, both overall (13.3%) and for most modalities (MRI 43.7%, CT 22.8%) for the study period (March 2010 – March 2013). Overall trend suggested significantly shorter waiting times (CT 0.7 weeks, MRI 1.3 weeks, non-obstetric ultrasound one week; all modalities p=0.001). Some modality variation in reporting times was apparent, with CT (p=0.06) and MRI (p=0.01) decreasing but there was an increase in x-ray reporting times (p=0.001). Reporting radiographers and sonographers reported the majority of x-ray and non-obstetric ultrasound interpretations (59% and 52%, respectively). A radiographer-led neonatal reporting service was implemented and the urology patient pathway redesigned. Effective team-working produced savings of three full-time consultant radiologist posts.

Conclusion:
Radiologists and radiographers, working together, can deliver an effective service. Innovation, staff development and redesign of patient pathways, have produced significant improvements.