Newly integrated diagnostic services have been announced by Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The community diagnostic centre (CDC), which is located at the MetroCentre shopping mall, aims to streamline diagnoses, reduce waiting times and address health inequalities.
Instead of investing in entirely new systems, the trusts worked with health technology specialist Answer Digital to create a solution that connects their diagnostic resources.
By integrating their respective systems and resources, Gateshead and Newcastle have optimised their combined capacity to meet NHS England’s goal of delivering 17 million diagnostic appointments by 2025.
They expect the new system will reduce administrative tasks by 25-40%.
One of the key challenges of the project was ensuring that patient records from Newcastle could be accurately matched and synchronised with Gateshead’s records.
Answer Digital developed a 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.
A manual review process has been introduced for partial matches to maintain the highest levels of patient safety and data accuracy. A patient demographic service (PDS) lookup has been integrated to validate NHS numbers further.
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.
David Thompson, head of digital solutions at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘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.’
By locating the CDC in the MetroCentre, the rate of ‘did not attends’ is also expected to drop.
