West Hertfordshire Teaching rolls out OptiRad radiology tech

West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust has rolled out Hexarad technology which aims to boost the performance of its radiology departments.

Hexarad’s OptiRad is intended to help cut scan waiting times for patients, ensuring they can receive treatment as soon as possible, according to a press release dated 20 June.

The cloud-based software tool, which was implemented in June 2024, optimises how radiology departments operate by forecasting capacity, delivering performance analytics and carrying out key administration tasks, freeing up radiologists’ time.

Hexarid says that OptiRad can process and allocate thousands of scans in minutes, cutting the time it takes to allocate a scan to a radiologist by approximately 90%.

Dr Nina Breunung-Joshi, clinical director radiology at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, said: “Like NHS trusts all over the country, one of our top priorities is getting patients seen and the results of their scans as quickly as possible and prioritising reports, but workforce shortages and the rising demand for scans is making this increasingly difficult.”

She added: “We’re now working with the radiology technology company Hexarad, and their OptiRad technology is working across our whole radiology department to find efficiencies, improve our performance and enable demand and capacity planning, as well as identify any rota gaps in the acute service for short term cover.

“We’re looking forward to seeing the results of our partnership with Hexarad as we feel that this technology could be transformative.”

The latest census from the Royal College of Radiologists, published 13 June, revealed the unprecedented strain NHS radiology services are under.

It highlighted a 30% shortfall of NHS clinical radiologists; 90% of clinical directors agreeing that workforce shortages are impacting patient safety; and 745,000 patients in England who waited over four weeks for their imaging results last year.

On 20 May 2024, Digital Health News reported that West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust had introduced two additional robotic surgery machines.