Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in partnership with health technology specialist Answer Digital, have officially opened their new integrated diagnostic services.
Located at the MetroCentre, the Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) is an ambitious project to streamline diagnostic services, reduce waiting times, and deliver faster, more equitable care to patients in areas of the country with some of the highest levels of social deprivation and poorest health outcomes in the UK.
By integrating their respective systems and resources, Gateshead and Newcastle have optimised their combined capacity to meet NHS England’s goal of delivering 17m diagnostic appointments by 2025.
Instead of investing in entirely new systems, the trusts worked with Answer Digital to create an innovative solution that connects their Radiology Information Systems (RIS), Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), and Electronic Patient Records (EPR).
By integrating their respective systems and resources, Gateshead and Newcastle have optimised their combined capacity to meet NHS England’s goal of delivering 17m diagnostic appointments by 2025
This integration allows real-time visibility and coordination of diagnostic resources, enabling faster, more efficient care delivery.
One of the key challenges of this project was ensuring that patient records from Newcastle could be accurately matched and synchronised with Gateshead’s records. Gateshead’s RIS, the main booking system for the newly opened CDC, needed to integrate seamlessly with Newcastle’s systems.
This integration ensures that patients receive timely care without delays caused by mismatched records.
Answer Digital developed a sophisticated Patient Matching Component that accurately synchronises patient data, reducing the risk of misidentification and allowing patients to access care quickly.
The integration engine matches patients based on NHS numbers and demographic details, ensuring smooth communication between the two trusts
The integration engine matches patients based on NHS numbers and demographic details, ensuring smooth communication between the two trusts.
To maintain the highest levels of patient safety and data accuracy, a manual review process has been introduced for partial matches, and a Patient Demographic Service (PDS) lookup has been integrated to further validate NHS numbers.
This robust system ensures accurate identification and prevents errors that could delay patient care. The integration allows for bidirectional data flow between the trusts, ensuring real-time updates on patient status and seamless coordination of diagnostic services such as radiology, cardiology, spirometry, and ECG.
This streamlines workflows, reducing administrative burdens and improving overall efficiency.
This integration allows real-time visibility and coordination of diagnostic resources, enabling faster, more efficient care delivery
The new system is anticipated to provide a 25-40% reduction in administrative tasks, enabling staff to focus on more critical duties. Patient safety will also be enhanced through the automation of data validation, reducing the risk of errors, and ensuring accurate record matching.
Additionally, the strategic location is expected to reduce DNA (Did Not Attend) rates, ensuring more patients receive the care they need on time and improving health outcomes for those in the region.
David Thompson, Head of Digital Solutions at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We knew that we needed to bring the two trusts together to deliver an effective CDC. By combining – and effectively democratising – the diagnostic capacity of both organisations, more patients will be able to be seen more quickly, speeding up the diagnosis of conditions like cancer, COPD, and heart disease, as well as enabling monitoring and observations throughout treatment."
Richard Pugmire, CEO of Answer Digital, said: "We have worked closely with the teams at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in supporting this forward-thinking approach. The opening of this integrated diagnostic centre sets a new benchmark for how diagnostic capacity and patient care can be enhanced, providing a model that other NHS trusts can follow to meet the growing demand for diagnostics."