A probe carried out by the U.K.’s Care Quality Commission (CQC) has uncovered a backlog of 8,500 imaging exams waiting to be reported to practitioners in east Kent—reportedly the result of an IT malfunction—Kent Online reported this week.
In addition to the August 2016 backlog, the CQC found multiple points of concern across three NHS trusts, including missed targets for how quickly exams should be reported back to doctors in nearly 8,300 cases and allegations that the radiology department wasn’t referring “most” plain film and emergency chest and abdomen x-rays to clinicians.
A trust spokesman said the practice had recruited seven more radiologists in an attempt to increase the output of radiology reporting, something Member of Parliament Rosie Duffield told Kent Online means “such worrying performance in the radiology department shouldn’t be repeated again.”
“Clearly there were some big technical issues last year and this was exacerbated by staffing shortages,” she said. “I am pleased to hear that the East Kent Universities Foundation NHS Trust has managed to deal with the huge backlog of cases in radiology. I have been reassured that hardware systems have been updated and checked.”
Read the full story from Kent Online below:
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.