Reducing imaging waiting times: enhanced roles and service-redesign

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Nuclear Medicine Service Delivery
• Process Improvement

Background:

• University Hospitals of Leicester's Nuclear Medicine service faced challenges in meeting internal and external waiting time targets.
• Reducing patient waiting times was crucial for compliance with primary care trust (PCT) and Department of Health guidelines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explain how Nuclear Medicine service managers reduced patient waiting times.
• To demonstrate effective implementation of innovation for sustainable change in healthcare services.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive service review including process mapping and data gathering.
• Inter-disciplinary team collaboration to redesign service delivery and implement new working methods.
• External practice reviews and evidence base searches were conducted.

Main Results:

• Service delivery bottlenecks were identified, particularly for myocardial perfusion imaging.
• Key issues included medical staff shortages, inter-site equipment/staff utilization, and a fragmented referral system.
• Enhanced roles for nurses, radiographers, and technologists addressed medical staff shortages.

Conclusions:

• Redesigned service delivery and cultural shifts led to increased efficiency, flexibility, and capacity.
• Achieved significant reductions in waiting times, notably for myocardial perfusion imaging (from 42 weeks to 2 weeks).
• Successfully maintained short waiting times within a challenging healthcare environment.