Hexarad radiology software reduces diagnostic wait times in North West Anglia

Radiology company Hexarad is reducing diagnostic waiting times for acute and critical care patients at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (NWAFT) with its unique radiology technology platform.

A joint pilot project showed that the overall time saved by using Hexarad’s technology platform was equivalent to one additional clinician for every shift in a 10-physician practice. To achieve this same result, hospitals would need to spend £365,000 a year on hospital agency fees.

Recent updates, particularly the introduction of Hexarad’s new Edge integration software, have enabled further improvements in turnaround times in acute care. Using Edge technology, NWAFT can now receive image reports approximately 20 minutes earlier than before, with total time savings of up to 80 minutes per patient.

When it comes to diagnosis, days, hours, and minutes are critical, especially in acute and emergency care, and delays are known to lead to poor prognosis.

For example, if untreated during a stroke, 2 million nerve cells are lost every minute, and for every 10 minutes delayed, patients can lose eight weeks of healthy life. His CQC review of radiology services in the UK found that the time it took for a scan to be reported to her A&E ranged from an hour to as long as 48 hours.

The NHS has been repeatedly warned of these risks in recent years, with research showing that imaging bottlenecks lead to diagnostic delays and unnecessary patient deaths.

Radiologists reporting to NWAFT can now typically receive emergency treatment images within 25 minutes, compared to approximately 45 minutes using the previous legacy system. A head CT scan, often used to diagnose severe head injuries, can now be sent to a reporting radiologist within five minutes. Reported total time savings are up to 80 minutes per patient.

Dr. Jaymin Patel, COO and consultant radiologist at Hexarad, said: “Ultimately, the time it takes to transfer images is the time clinicians and patients are waiting for reports, and reducing that time can reduce delays.

“By focusing on reducing image transfer times, we were able to save even more significant time, allowing NWAFT patients to receive emergency care approximately 15 minutes earlier than before.

“When it comes to diagnosis, hours, minutes and seconds matter, especially in emergency care, so it’s important to focus on areas that are likely to be overlooked to find ways to give patients a diagnosis more quickly. I think there is.”

In December, we reported that pathology services across NWAFT were fully integrated with the implementation of a new digital pathology system.