Partner
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, Surrey, UK
Partner
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, Surrey, UK
Challenge
Increase capacity of diagnostic imaging service to reduce patient wait times and costly outsourcing, despite limited funding
Results
Andrew Moth
Radiology Manager during the procurement
The outdated imaging facilities of Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals included analogue X-ray rooms and poorly performing imaging equipment, which contributed to patients waiting 25 days for a scan. Unable to provide diagnostic technologies such as cardiac CT, virtual colonoscopies and proctograms, the Trust had to outsource these services, at a cost, to meet patient needs. Two of the general X-ray rooms at the Ashford Hospital had operating uptimes as low as 65%, while another two imaging rooms were in such a poor state that they could not be used at all. Ashford and St Peter’s required an urgent solution that could provide state-of-the-art facilities for their patients, without a high up-front capital investment.
“Before the partnership, our clinical delivery was suffering. Some of the diagnostic equipment was 32 years old. Each year the need to update got greater, but the scope of replacement became even more unreachable,” said Susan Farrell, Lead Superintendent Radiographer at Ashford an St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The managed services approach aims to provide hospitals with a long-term solution, with Philips not only sourcing, installing, and integrating medical equipment and technology, but also taking on the responsibility for its maintenance and availability for clinical use, as well as delivering staff training to foster continuous improvement.
Susan Farrell
Lead Superintendent Radiographer, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
To ensure the long-term partnership remains flexible and mutually beneficial for all parties, the contract includes a change control process that enables the Trust to update or improve the agreement as needed, which has been successfully used multiple times.
Results are specific to the institution where they are obtained and may not reflect the results achievable at other institutions.