TMC supports over 60 NHS hospitals with MRI reporting

Many NHS hospitals in the UK were faced with long waiting lists, one of the longest in Europe. Patient treatment was delayed particularly due to a shortage of MRI reporting capacity, resulting in increased anxiety among both patients and doctors. The UK Department of Health had set targets to reduce the patient waiting time from referral to treatment, which meant that diagnostic waiting times had to be reduced.

TMC began to work on a contract with Alliance Medical to support NHS hospitals with MRI reporting. Alliance Medical performs MRI scanning in mobile units and the images are sent to TMC radiologists to be read with a 24-hour turnaround time. Alliance Medical and TMC performs 4000 examinations monthly, supporting more than 60 hospitals in the UK.

“The provision of MRI scans to the NHS within the first wave diagnostics contract has undoubtedly contributed in a major way to the reduction of patient waiting times. TMC is pleased to have played a large part in providing the radiology reporting service within this contract. Undoubtedly, there were problems in the early stages of the contract but TMC has strived to provide a high quality service, reporting approximately 4000 MRI examinations a month to more than 60 NHS hospitals.

In such an environment, it can be difficult to please “all of the people, all of the time” and there can be a feeling that the radiologist is remote. But we are increasingly in regular contact on the phone or by means of follow-up letters with many of the clinicians who receive our reports, just as it happens in a conventional radiology setting. We are now moving into a new era in the UK and, where a teleradiology reporting service is able to support a hospital radiology department, a more direct relationship with the hospital is preferable so that the relationship between referring clinicians, local radiologists and teleradiologists can be strengthened to facilitate clinical communication and improve client satisfaction.”

Nicola Bees, Consultant Radiologist, TMC