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Good practice guide

Diagnostic services in the NHS

Key questions for NHS boards:

  • Do you benchmark with endoscopy units across the UK which are returning better GRS scores to identify good practice that can be applied locally?
  • Do you offer patients a choice of date and time for all diagnostic appointments?
  • Do you have local targets for test turnaround times that reflect their clinical urgency?
  • Do you monitor performance against these targets?
  • Do you pool waiting lists for diagnostic radiology and endoscopy tests across consultants?
  • Do you have diagnostic test protocols and referral guidelines in place for GPs and clinicians?
  • Have you explored the possibility of extending the range of diagnostic tests that GPs can refer patients for directly through clear protocols?
  • Are diagnostic services included in the board’s planning for achieving and maintaining the new 18-week referral to treatment target?
  • Do you collect and monitor local information on the performance of diagnostic services? For example:
    • number of planned sessions that were used
    • Can the board identify the causes of any weighting towards reactive spend?
  • Does the board have a plan to address any imbalance, and is this signed off by the board?
  • Are there criteria in place for capital investment bids that require:
    • whole-life costing to be considered and set out in business cases?
    • test turnaround times.
  • Do data reported to the Cost Book reflect data that are reported to the Keele Benchmarking Scheme and the NHSScotland Radiology Benchmarking Project?
  • Do you review performance of diagnostic services against indicators of efficiency and make use of benchmarking data to identify potential improvements on an ongoing basis?
  • Are there guidelines in place for clinicians and GPs to help reduce repeat testing?