It is almost impossible to believe that we are approaching the end of 2023 – for the quality improvement partners, this year seems to have sprinted by. 

In June, we said a sad goodbye to Sally Walker in her role as a QI partner, and we would like to thank her for all the support she has given to the Quality Standard for Imaging (QSI) leads and the wider QSI team.

In August, Glenda Shaw started a secondment to the role and Katherine Jakeman, with her wealth of QSI experience, continues to provide support along with Alex Lipton, professional officer at the Society and College of Radiographers. As we prepare for future expansion, Nicola Hancock will continue to manage the QSI team within The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) in the new role of quality improvement manager.

You may now be aware that the College of Radiographers and the RCR are working together to develop and deliver a new QSI quality improvement network and quality mark scheme. This is an opportunity to evolve the way we deliver QSI into something that better meets the needs of services. 

The colleges have been considering how we would want to deliver an in-house assessment scheme that best serves our members and Fellows. We are looking forward to welcoming services who would like to be part of our scheme and we will continue to keep you up to date with our developments over the course of next year. The joint colleges are anticipating some exciting and significant changes planned for 2024.

How have we been engaging colleagues with QSI over the past year?

Monthly meetings

We’ve had a busy year for our support work, both with individual services and in groups. In 2023 there has been fantastic attendance at our QSI monthly meetings, and we will continue these throughout 2024. Topics have included inclusive pregnancy guidance, leadership, imaging networks, non-medical referring, forensics, professional standards, audit and quantification. 

We would like to say a big thank you to all of our guest volunteer speakers. If you have previously asked to attend, you will have been sent diary invites for next year. We always welcome fresh faces so if you are curious, please request an invitation via email at QSI@rcr.ac.uk. Our first meeting will be on 10 January from 12:00 to 13:00. If you would like to present on a QSI-related topic, we would welcome your ideas.

Gap analysis sessions

There were opportunities for QSI leads to attend gap analysis sessions over the past 12 months. These informal meetings aim to select specific QSI quality statements and break them down into more detail. We discuss how services might approach meeting the indicative inputs and ways to evidence meeting the quality requirements. There is always healthy engagement in these sessions, with brilliant sharing of ideas and experiences, which are key to ensuring we continue to share best practice. Katherine and Glenda will resume these sessions in 2024 and hope to make them as interactive and helpful as possible. 

Imaging networks

This year there has been a national direction in England towards the development of formal imaging networks. The QI partners have been engaging with a number of networks to enable us to support them as they begin working towards the Quality Standards for Imaging Networks (QSIN). We have also been supporting some more established networks in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

As the networks mature, we hope to continue this support to encourage all services to embed quality improvement into their culture. The QSI team has attended a number of conferences this year and held a session on imaging networks at UKIO. The team was really pleased with the number of delegates that showed an interest in our session and, as always, it was great to see our QSI leads in person. In July, we also held a successful QSI leads day at the RCR in London, which was a fantastic opportunity to gain experience and share ideas. We hope to host another QSI leads day in 2024.

The standards

The colleges continue to own and develop both sets of our QSI standards. There are no plans to change these substantially in the future but we do want to ensure they are kept up to date with new guidance and provide clarity on any standards as required. We publish updated versions annually – to ensure you are working from the latest version, please check the QSI website where you can download the standards.

Stakeholder engagement

As mentioned earlier, the colleges are in the process of developing a new QSI quality improvement network and quality mark scheme. To ensure the scheme is suited to our members, Fellows, the wider imaging team and their patients, we have provided an opportunity for a variety of stakeholders to input into the process. 

We have been busy listening to feedback from QSI leads, radiology service managers, clinical directors, imaging networks and representatives from NHS England and the devolved nations, which has hugely informed the final plans. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share their ideas and views.

Our finalised scheme and costings are available on the QSI website. In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding the new scheme, you may find it helpful to review our Frequently asked questions. If you cannot find the answer you are looking for, please contact us directly by email (see below). We are keen to continue to engage with services during the implementation of the new scheme so please do not hesitate to email us with any questions or concerns.

We realise that services are working under hugely challenging conditions. We hope you all get a well-deserved rest and time with family and friends over the festive period. If you have not started your QSI journey, maybe you could make it a new year’s resolution!