Hamish McRitchie – Reflections on SRTP Phase 1
The Scottish Radiology Transformation Programme commenced in 2016 in response to a service crisis. Lack of radiologists and radiographers and consequent rising vacancy levels were threatening clinical services and making maintenance of patient safety difficult. An initial Business Case was approved and funded to tackle workforce shortages, link up radiology reporting technology across Scotland, and to develop a Scottish dataset, datamart and analytical dashboard.
A programme team was formed and set to work! I was seconded as the Medical Director. The initial three years of the programme were tasked with putting in place the building blocks for subsequent transformational change. Early success included lobbying for additional radiologist training places which will lead to expansion in radiologist numbers in future years. A procurement was undertaken resulting in a contract to roll out the Soliton Share+ reporting platform across Scotland. A Scottish radiology dataset was defined as a Datamart construct it together Radiology information from all Health Boards. The data dashboard has been built which allows interrogation of the dataset. A Reporting Radiographer pilot using the IT system was concluded in the final year of Phase 1. All of these projects had their challenges and are only now nearing completion. Nonetheless, a programme of work that appeared ridiculously ambitious when we started is now close to completion and has laid the foundation work for Phase 2 transformation of the service.
Finally, in Phase 1, the Phase 2 Business Case was presented and accepted in December 2019.
COVID-19
The COVID-19 crisis at the beginning of this year led to redirection of the team resources focusing on supporting the national response and initially supporting advice and information. Realignment of the project work led to rollout of 50 workstations for radiology reporting and home reporting, and acceleration of recruitment to the Radiology Bank at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital. This led to acceleration of the pilot Scottish National Radiology Reporting Service.
SRTP Phase 2
We are now looking forward to continuing the transformation process within Phase 2 of the programme. This will include a pilot of the Reporting Bank as part of the Scottish National Radiology Reporting Service which will run for a further year; piloting Clinical Decision Support software at two Health Board sites; supporting Advanced Practice, investigating the role of artificial intelligence in the radiology reporting process and producing a roadmap for further transformational change.
The next three years will include many exciting challenges. Most of these have likely not yet been foreseen. I have no doubt that the transformation programme will be able to build on the solid foundations established during Phase 1 to improve the radiology services in the future to the benefit of both patients and staff.
