Partnering with Wye Valley NHS Trust to increase diagnostic imaging capacity

Wye Valley NHS Trust, one of the UK’s smallest NHS trusts, serves more than 190,000 residents in Herefordshire and 30,000 in Mid Wales. By 2018, its imaging department was under increasing strain due to a sustained rise in demand for diagnostic services - a 10% annual increase across most modalities and a striking 50-60% surge in CT scans. These pressures were compounded by national radiographer shortages, outdated equipment, and significant variability in turnaround times for MR and ultrasound, all of which intensified operational challenges.

It was clear from discussions between Philips and the Trust that just changing equipment wasn’t going to solve their mounting issues. Instead, transformational change was needed.

Small in size, yet big in vision, Wye Valley NHS Trust knew that it needed to optimise its radiology department but simutaneousy lay the foundations for the radiology department of the future.

To meet its objectives, Wye Valley established a long-term strategic Managed Service partnership with Philips, to work together to drive excellence across the radiology service and improve clinical outcomes for the population of Herefordshire.

Through CoCreate – a flexible, scalable and collaborative approach designed to help the Trust transform the delivery of health - Philips and the Trust identified several improvement and education projects. Inside the first twelve months, delivered an initial ‘fast-track’ programme to replace essential imaging equipment, optimising capacity.

The ability of Wye Valley to support its staff through education and resource management was vital to address productivity and meet the rising patient demand. The partnership looked at how to optimise staff resources through an initial Service Improvement programme, designed to address productivity and performance.

A foundation level training course gave Wye Valley staff the skills to improve efficiency and patient flows. The training covered:

The MR team at the Trust completed six ‘learn-do’ training cycles across a 12-week period which focused on mapping value streams, understanding capacity and demand, and improving the working and patient environment

Building on the success of the initial ‘Fast-track’ programme, Wye Valley NHS Trust and Philips launched a major £2 million radiology service redevelopment. Together, they identified and implemented new workflows to align with the introduction of advanced equipment, maximising the benefits of updated technology, improved department layout, and streamlined processes.

The extensive five-month redevelopment was carefully staged to maintain uninterrupted service delivery. Key enhancements included the addition of MRI capabilities and the creation of a dedicated interventional suite.

The interventional suite itself was transformed from several small, outdated rooms into a bespoke clinical area, featuring separate control and generator rooms. The project also included the construction and refurbishment of ultrasound rooms. Impressively, the entire refurbishment was completed on schedule and within budget in mid-March 2020, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 also created a high strain on hospital resources and exacerbated backlogs in diagnostic services and treatment. The partnership adapted to enable the Trust to grow further CT capacity through refreshing equipment and adopting out-of-hospital mobile CT solutions, optimising uptime and minimising clinical downtime

The partnership has transformed the radiology department both in its physical appearance and service provision. Change has been achieved by Philips and Wye Valley colleagues reviewing the department’s performance in a more longitudinal fashion, finding pain points and unmet needs, and, by examining where existing inefficiencies inhibited productivity.

Central to the partnership is the dedicated on-site Customer Delivery Manager, who works ‘hand in glove’ with Wye Valley management. The Customer Delivery Manager ensures the agreed objectives of the Managed Service partnership (such as department redesigns and the implementation of new equipment and training programmes) are delivered on time and within budget against the partnership’s roadmap. Key partnership benefits at time of writing included: