Vital Radiology Services

Updated 7 January 2022

Vital Radiology Services is operated by Vital Radiology Services Limited, providing teleradiology reporting services. Teleradiology is the transmission of patients’ radiological images between different locations to produce a primary report, expert second opinion or clinical review.

The service is led by a team of UK-based medical and healthcare professionals and teleradiology experts. Their service is focused around the analysis and interpretation of radiology scans including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerised tomography (CT) scans, mammography, and plain-film X-Ray. Radiologists report on the images of both adults and children.

The service provides diagnostic imaging services on a remote basis, which meant patients did not attend the location and staff had no direct contact with patients. All patient care and contact was made by the referring NHS trust or private healthcare service responsible for their treatment. The service did not store or prescribe medicines and did not monitor patient symptoms such as pain or clinical presentations.

The service had a registered manager in post and was registered to carry out the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures

Vital Radiology Services was registered in 2017 and had not been previously inspected.

Updated 7 January 2022

This was the first inspection for Vital Radiology Services. We rated it as good because:

• The service had enough staff to provide a safe service. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to identify abuse, and managed safety well. Staff assessed risks, acted on them and kept good records. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• The provider had systems to ensure reporting radiologists who provided services had appropriate equipment installed.
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. There were effective systems to act on urgent and emergency referrals. There were escalation processes for reporting radiologists in the event of a significant finding. Staff worked well together and had access to good information. Services were available seven days a week.
• Clients could access the service when they needed it and received the report within agreed timeframes.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with their clients and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

• The service could not provide evidence electrical equipment had been routinely checked for safety. There was no annual portable appliance testing (PAT) programme in place. We raised this with the provider who told us they were planning to have a programme in place by the end of the month. Following our inspection, we received assurances an annual programme of PAT testing was in place.
• Although staff completed a visual display unit (VDU) risk assessment on initial set up when commencing employment, there was no annual/regular VDU risk assessment for staff thereafter. Following our inspection, we received assurances an annual programme of VDU assessments for staff was in place.

Updated 7 January 2022

This is the first time we have rated this service. We rated it as good overall.

We rated this service as good because it was safe, responsive and well led. We do not rate effective for diagnostic imaging services. Caring was not inspected during this inspection as it was a teleradiology service. The service did not see patients and patients did not visit the premises.

Please refer to overall summary above.