The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme has welcomed two new advisors to support work on its radiology workstream.
Elaine Quick, a former radiology service manager at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, and Lucy Beeley*, the group manager for radiology at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, will be working with GIRFT clinical lead Dr Kath Halliday and senior clinical advisor Dr Giles Maskell in their national review of radiology and imaging services across England.
The two will offer their expertise and knowledge in areas such capacity and demand planning, pathway management, waiting list management, coding and recruitment as the review team visits all NHS trusts with a radiology service before making recommendations for the specialty in a national report.
Elaine Quick (pictured left) recently retired from Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust after a long career in radiography. She held several roles at the trust, including radiology service manager and imaging strategy lead. She is currently leading the procurement of picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) in Greater Manchester.
She said: “Getting It Right First Time provides a real opportunity to improve services for patients and I am looking forward to identifying best practice which can be shared across all radiology services, regardless of locality.”
Lucy Beeley (pictured right) has been the group manager for radiology at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust for the past four years. She has been an NHS manager for 20 years and has a special interest in developing good organisational cultures.
She said: “I am delighted to be part of this team and supporting the Getting It Right First Time programme to enable the development of high quality radiology services across the country.”
Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) is a national programme designed to improve care within the NHS by reducing unwarranted variation. By tackling variations in the way services are delivered across the NHS, and by sharing best practice between trusts, GIRFT identifies changes that will help improve care and patient outcomes, as well as delivering efficiencies.
The GIRFT radiology review team has so far carried out 105 deep dive visits to trusts. A national report on radiology and imaging services – offering a range of recommendations to improve care – will follow in 2020.
Dr Kath Halliday said of the appointments: “GIRFT is led by frontline clinicians, who know exactly what is working well and what needs improvement in our hospitals. I am looking forward to working with Elaine and Lucy, who between them bring many years of knowledge to our GIRFT review. With them on board, we look forward to publishing a national report which will make a real difference to patients and to the specialty as a whole.”
* Lucy Beeley has since left the GIRFT programme
