Although the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was providing services for over 500,000 people living in North Tyneside and Northumberland, it had no capacity to provide MRI scans for the local population.
With high quality patient care at the heart of everything they do, the Trust wanted to ensure every single patient would have an exceptional experience, and in a hospital local to their home.
Having won three national awards for improved patient pathway, the Trust wanted to find a way to increase service capacity, meet stricter targets from referral to report and extend opening hours. They also wanted to add support for new cardiac MRI and breast MRI services.
With the same core values at the heart of both organisations, InHealth and the Trust recognised that by working together, this ideal local service based at North Tyneside General Hospital could become a reality.
All departments, specialities and teams were involved in the service development. The well-equipped MRI suite, managed by a highly trained administrative team, work closely with InHealth radiographers and other consultant radiologists employed by the Trust, to handle clinical management and appointments.
Following the success of the service at North Tyneside Hospital, the Trust then commissioned InHealth to add a second MRI facility at Wansbeck Hospital to meet increased service demands.
Together, both sites now carry out more than 11,500 scans per year and InHealth have also provided mobile MRI and CT services to the Trust’s Community Hospitals in Hexham and Berwick to help reduce the distance patients have to travel for their scans.
In 2014, InHealth installed a new state-of-the-art GE Healthcare scanner in the newly refurbished MRI suite at North Tyneside. Providing the latest diagnostic technology available anywhere in the world, the high quality 3D imaging and fast scanning rate means around 7,000 North East patients a year are diagnosed and treated much more quickly. The new scanner is the first of its kind in the North East to provide a 40% wider area for patients to lie down, helping to reduce the feeling of claustrophobia and making the procedure a much less daunting experience for patients.
The managed service is simply a part of our radiology department. On a day-to-day basis, the integration is seamless and I’m very pleased with the quality of the images provided.
