NHS England, in conjunction with the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) and the Society of Radiographers (SoR), has developed guidance for digitally communicating imaging reports to patients.
The organizations said that successful communication with all patients will improve overall access to healthcare data.
Core principles for this communication guidance include placing responsibility on the referrer to review, act on, and communicate results, having the imaging report serve as a medical opinion that will contain medical phrases and terminology, and having a universal disclaimer added to all reports that are directly released to patients.
NHS England recommends that reports be made available on the NHS app or other digital channels four weeks after patients have been verified on the RIS or equivalent. However, it added that faster availability times should be considered one to two years after the new guidance is implemented.
More information can be found on the SoR's site.
