Geared up to reach NHS’ new diagnostic waiting time target: 6 weeks or less

Only a few days to go. By the end of March, all NHS organisations should be delivering a maximum wait of 6 weeks for any diagnostic test. Telemedicine Clinic, a leading provider of solutions to improve productivity and capacity in public imaging centres, is now launching a complete package for NHS trusts to reach the waiting time target.

To reach the 18-week patient care and treatment target, the NHS has set a new target for diagnostic waiting times at 6 weeks, which will come into effect at the end of March 2008. For more complex cases, in particular, patients may find themselves in a bottleneck while they wait for scans or diagnostic services before they are treated. Reducing diagnostic waiting times is therefore critical and deserves attention.

Telemedicine Clinic has successfully delivered quality diagnostic readings with fast turnaround to the NHS in the past years and is geared up to support the NHS in its current aim to reduce the wait time further to reach the 18-weeks waiting time target.

Telemedicine Clinic is set up with the medical expertise and technology to meet this diagnostic challenge, reporting results with a turnaround time of 15 minutes per case. “We are well-equipped with state-of-the-art technology, know-how and UK registered subspecialist radiologists to provide fast service to hospitals while focusing heavily on the medical quality of our readings,” according to Dr Henrik Agrell, Vice President of TMC. “Complex cases go through double reporting as quality is what we strive to maintain.”

Telemedicine Clinic has a secure system in place to ensure data protection, patient confidentiality and clinical governance processes in line with recommendations from the Royal College of Radiologists. “We’ve taken all possible measures to secure patient data,” says Agrell. “We hope to earn trust and loyalty through a long-term partnership with our clients and their patients.”

Telemedicine Clinic provides subspecialist radiology reporting services, training and support to public healthcare providers. Today, TMC is the largest teleradiology centre as well as the largest MRI diagnostic centre in the UK with more than 70 specialist radiologists in post.