The U.K. Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has expressed its support of a statement on integrated care released by the Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Clinical radiology is vital to seamless patient care, the RCR said. It is calling on the U.K. government to encourage the best use of imaging services, to integrate radiology into the overall clinical management of patients, and to invest in the radiologist workforce.
This last effort is particularly crucial, the RCR said: There are 48 trained radiologists per one million people in the U.K., a figure that has remained static for the past five years -- despite the fact that in the last decade the number of CT scans performed has increased 10.3% per year, and the number of MR scans performed has increased 12% per year.
"Patients in the U.K. deserve timely diagnosis by the experts who can most readily help them -- clinical radiologists," said Dr. Giles Maskell, president of the RCR, in a statement.
