Toshiba Medical has announced a significant managed equipment services (MES) agreement with Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.
The agreement sees Toshiba providing ultrasound systems that are managed and maintained in eight hospitals throughout the Trust, which has delivered approximately 60,000 ultrasound scans for Cornish patients in 2016.
Awarded after a competitive tender, the managed equipment services agreement will see the whole Trust covered effectively with the latest Toshiba imaging systems. As part of the agreement, Toshiba’s specialist MES team will work with the Trust to plan, manage and maintain medical equipment facilities, applying best practices that maximise imaging equipment availability, minimising risk of downtime and helping the Trust to continue to improve patient care, while delivering long term efficiencies.
The Trust’s main imaging centre is the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske, Truro. Systems will also be provided and managed across the Trust in imaging centres including: West Cornwall Hospital Penzance, St Michael’s Hospital Hayle, and community hospitals in St Austell, Bodmin, Newquay and Helston. Spread through the county, the Trust’s imaging service delivers an impressively high quality of patient care, both at the imaging centre in Truro, but also at the extremities of the region, with the latest imaging systems available locally.
The whole spectrum of ultrasound is covered through the agreement, with ultrasound imaging set up for urology, fetal medicine, vascular, obstetrics and gynaecology, cardiology and neuro work. With imaging under one central contract, the Trust can manage the service in a cohesive and flexible manner.
Emma Spouse, radiology services manager at the Trust, commented: “The systems are of the highest quality and the training and application development work has been impressive. Toshiba has effectively worked with the Trust to make the provision of world class imaging available and affordable throughout the Cornish peninsula.
“The usability, flexibility and mobility of Toshiba’s ultrasound systems has helped the Trust deliver a first class service for 60,000 patients this year alone. A local Toshiba engineer provides 24-hour, seven days per week support, ensuring that we can deliver 100% uptime for our imaging service.”
Dr Simon Thorogood, consultant radiologist at the Trust, commented: “Many of the systems across the Trust for obstetrics and general ultrasound are from Toshiba and its MES team has been very willing to help the Trust when it has encountered challenges with its imaging services through expert engineer support 24 hours a day. The managed service agreement is a formalisation of a trusted relationship.
“Ultimately, Toshiba will concentrate on delivering top class imaging technology and services, while we concentrate on continually improving care for patients in the region – it’s the best possible partnership.”
