John Wright
Recent activity
Comments (11)
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Comment on: Industry will meet start-up costs for telehealth, Nicholson says
According to the EU, teleradiology is classed as a medical act so on that basis teleradiology companies such as Medica have already invested millions in the UK's telehealth infrastructure. They have equipped about 80 NHS consultant radiologists with high-quality PACS technology in their own homes so they can report images for the NHS in the evening and at weekend (or handle backlogs of chest X-Rays for example). There is no telehealth PFI involved in that. I like Sir Ian's view about the NHS having a different relationship with medtech companies. Parts of the UK teleradiology market are a shining example of that.
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Comment on: Why battling surgical site infections can complement infection control
A colleague wrote to Cynthia Bower, Chief Exec. of the CQC, two years ago to let her know that reusable medical devices in operating theatres are not being decontaminated (as specified in the Department of Health's core standards). He wrote because, in the HSJ at that time, Ms Bower was quoted as saying: ""Healthcare associated infections are something the public and government put an enormous amount of attention on. If we see hospitals where there's still a material risk to patients because of some failure to meet the registration standards, then we will impose conditions on them and we will give them very tight timescales." She has not replied two years on and the devices are still not being decontaminated. Perhaps Paul Trueman and Phil Adams-Howell would like to investigate what appears to be a serious breach of the CQC's own rules (not to mention the duty of care to the patients and staff).
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Comment on: £750m spent by NHS on locum doctors
Very revealing report. What is baffling about some NHS Trusts is that they could cover - and even extend their services - at a lower cost than using locums by buying in independent services. A paper presented at UKRC in 2009 by the resident radiologist at Stepping Hill Hospital, Manchester, assessed the cost of covering CT head and/or neck reporting using locum cover for five months was more than £17,000 whereas teleradiology reporting costs for the same period were less than £8,000. The teleradiology service used only FRCR consultant radiologists so there was no reduction in quality, as evidenced by an audit of 51 cases which revealed no significant discrepancies. Perhaps correspondents could suggest reasons as to why some NHS Trusts have figured this out and others have not.
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Comment on: NHS Commissioning Board to check foreign doctors' language skills
In the case of radiologists based in the EU, registration with the GMC must not be considered sufficient. Currently, some teleradiology services farm out image reporting into the EU, Australia and elsewhere with Trusts putting up with non-FRCR standards. Meanwhile, of course, the poor patient knows nothing about these arrangements. Have a look at this video: http://www.medicagroup.co.uk/regulation-video.php in which a senior consultant radiologist recounts, fairly early on in the debate, what happened when a German radiologist joined his department as a locum. In fact, the whole 11-minute debate is quite instructive (and worrying). If you are using a teleradiology back-up service, your patients deserve FRCR standards. End of.
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Comment on: Better NHS management 'leads to better outcomes'
No! Better management leads to better patient outcomes? Well, I for one am SHOCKED. You will be telling me next that when it rains in the UK the ground gets wet. Phew, those McKinsey boys really know their stuff.....
