Wye Valley transforms radiology with £2m redevelopment programme

Wye Valley NHS Trust’s partnership with Philips has seen a £2million redevelopment programme of its radiology services and an overhaul of its patient pathways.

The managed service partnership has led to a significant increase in the imaging capacity at the trust, which has helped clear some of its diagnosis backlog that resulted from the pandemic.

The trust worked alongside Philips to create solutions for new patient pathways and flow, as well as replacing outdated radiology equipment. The installation of Philips Compressed Sense software has meant that the trust is able to scan an additional four patients every day, increasing patient throughput by as much as 15%.

Jane Ives, managing director of the trust, said: “At the heart of our trust strategy is integrated care. Through collaboration, Philips and the Wye Valley Trust identified several improvement and education projects and inside the first 12 months, delivered an initial ‘fast-track’ programme to replace essential imaging equipment, optimising capacity.

“Our successes have not just been achieved due to new equipment. Improving pathways and optimising how our patients flow through our radiology department have been vital to our transformation.”

The two organisations originally signed a partnership agreement back in 2018 designed to drive excellence within the trust’s radiology service and improve clinical outcomes. In a bid to ensure continuity of services for the trust the redevelopment element of the 11-year partnership was completed in stages.

Stephen McMillan, head of solutions for Philips UKI, added: “We have a genuine partnership in place with Wye Valley Trust that enabled us to work together to find creative, high impact solutions to support the trust and its patients. It is humbling to know that our collaboration has significantly helped to reduce diagnostic backlogs, allowing Herefordshire residents to benefit from these improved diagnostic services.”

It’s not only its radiology department which has seen improvements in recent years. Last year Wye Valley NHS Trust went live with its new electronic prescribing and medicines administration system.