The East Midlands Radiology consortium in the U.K. has been included as one of the Vanguard projects announced by National Health Service (NHS) England as part of the next stage in implementing the NHS Five Year Forward View -- something the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) welcomes.
The RCR approves of the initiative, because the current severe shortage of radiologists means innovative models of radiology service delivery are required to make the best use of the available workforce, according to a statement.
It has called for networking of radiology service provision across multiple providers to support access for patients to specialist opinions and help create sustainable working lives for radiologists.
The consortium is "leading the way in this field and it is likely that the lessons learned from this work will lead to improved services for patients across the U.K.," said RCR President Dr. Giles Maskell. "Only when the shortage of radiologists is addressed will the full benefits of this project be realized."
