Deborah Southon Project Manager, Steve Blake Superintendent Radiographer, Chris Haydon Senior Radiographer, Dr Simon Freeman Consultant Radiologist and Dr Gareth Porter, Consultant Radiologist
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is delighted to announce that its diagnostic imaging services have been recognised and formally accredited.
Plymouth Hospitals has become the seventh diagnostic imaging service provider in the UK to be accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to the Imaging Services Accreditation Scheme (ISAS) Standard. The Trust is the largest organisation nationally and the only one in the South West to be accredited.
The accreditation covers diagnostic imaging services that are delivered across all Trust sites, including Derriford Hospital, South Hams Hospital, Liskeard Hospital, The Cumberland Centre and the Radiology Academy in Plymouth.
Deborah Southon, Project Manager at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are absolutely delighted that we have been accredited by UKAS. This is the culmination of many months of hard work by the imaging department and the formal recognition is a credit to them all.”
The imaging directorate were visited earlier this year by a nine strong assessment team who undertook an assessment of the Trust’s imaging services and governance processes.
Deborah explains: “We were required to provide evidence relating to policies, practices, patient experiences, user and referrer feedback, clinical outcomes and safety measures across all of our sites.
“We were visited by an assessment team who undertook an in-depth review of our imaging services and governance processes. They looked at all of our diagnostic imaging services, including radiography, ultrasound, CT, MRI, therapeutic radiology procedures, radiology nursing, our administrative processes and our Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS).”
Dr Gareth Porter, Consultant Radiologist and Clinical Director of Imaging, added: “I would firstly like to commend all of the diagnostic imaging staff who have worked so hard together to achieve this award.
“Achieving this accreditation has been a result of the dedication of our imaging staff but also it is a demonstration that we are committed to putting our patients first and we are striving to provide a service which is patient-focused.
“This is not the end of the process and we realise we still have work to do. We will need to continue to demonstrate that our services meet the standards set out by UKAS and they will review our services on an annual basis. We will continue to listen to and respond to the comments made by patients to ensure not only the high quality of our service but also the patient experience.”
Joe Teape, Deputy Chief Executive for Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “This outcome could not have been achieved without the contribution of the whole of the diagnostic imaging team. This is a great achievement and a real testament to the service that they work so hard to provide.”