GE Healthcare believes it can be a key component in improving NHS utilisation of its capital equipment, as expressed in this item from the company.
The full article can be found here.
GE states; “There are two key points made in the (Public Accounts Committee) Report. The first is that NHS Trusts are not collaborating to take advantage of economies of scale when purchasing this equipment. The second is that there are big variations in how efficiently the equipment is utilised.”
Based on the Report, it appears as if not all Trusts are utilising their equipment as efficiently as possible and that this causes delays to patient treatment. However, various GE Healthcare technologies and services can help hospitals maximise asset use to improve access and quality of patient care, while helping to reduce costs.
Bettina Fitt, GE Healthcare’s General Manager UK says “We would suggest that there needs to be more emphasis on the procurement of appropriate technology based on the hospitals needs and patient volumes. GE Healthcare has a number of technologies that may support in this area, such as, for example, an extremity MRI scanner.”
Bettina continues: “GE Healthcare works carefully with all its customers to help get the most out of their investment in diagnostic imaging equipment in so far as their staffing levels allow.”
“Ultimately we support early diagnosis. Instead of medical devices not being fully utilised, if they were being used to capacity, more patients could be diagnosed earlier. This would lead to better patient outcomes through prevention or more effective, tailored and personalized therapy. Earlier diagnosis also benefits the health service financially by minimising the expensive, aggressive, late and often ineffective therapies prescribed to patients as a result of later diagnosis.”
“We believe that a whole system approach to early diagnosis and intervention would increase utilisation of high value equipment.”
“As NHS reforms take place, and the financial pressures continue to bite, there is an urgent need to ensure that the health service clearly grasps and acts upon the barriers to patients getting fast, early diagnostic treatment and the advantages that early diagnosis entails both for patients and the economics of the healthcare system as a whole.”
Source: GE Healthcare
published: November 3, 2011 in: Companies, Imaging, Products