NHS England, in conjunction with the SoR and the Royal College of Radiologists, has developed a clear approach enabling NHS trusts to automatically, directly and digitally release imaging reports to patients.
Doing so will empower patients to access their health records and serve as a failsafe process should normal communication processes be delayed.
Digitally sharing imaging results with all patients will improve overall access to healthcare data, beyond those with unexpected or significant findings.
Effectively communicating results
In 2019, the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) report Failures in communication or follow-up of unexpected significant radiological findings recommended digital notification of patients for imaging findings.
NHS England’s recent publications, Results release clinical standards, emphasised all tests should be released via a digital route where possible.
The new guidance sets out core principles for effective communication of results to patients, including:
- the referrer who initiates the test is responsible for reviewing, acting on and communicating the result
- the imaging report is a medical opinion and so will contain medical phrases and terminology. RCR is working to recommend adjustments to imaging reports in light of greater patient access, and the report may include a footnote to this effect
- a universal disclaimer is to be added to all reports released directly to the patient:
“This report has been sent to the referring clinician (doctor or other healthcare professional) who referred you for this investigation. If you have any questions, please discuss with your referring clinician.”
Improving access to healthcare
NHSE recommends digital imaging reports be made available four weeks after patients have been formally verified on the Radiology Information System (RIS) or equivalent. These should be released to patients via the NHS App and/or other agreed digital channels such as local patient engagement portals (PEPs).
A four-week embargo mitigates the risk of results being received before a final diagnosis and requires the referrer to action urgent test results and ensure there has been follow-up communication with the patient ahead of the report being directed to them.
A more ambitious target – for example, releasing reports two weeks after formal verification – should be considered within 12–24 months of the go-live date, with the agreement of the national teams involved and once clinicians have embedded the practice from the initial rollout.
This guidance does not supersede previous guidance on direct communication to patients and referrers, as set out in the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ (AOMRC; October 2022) Alerts and notification of imaging reports – recommendations, and this approach for radiological results may be adopted for other diagnostics.
Find out more information online here.
(Image: Photo by Luis Alvarez, via Getty Images)