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West Middlesex doctor recognised for ‘outstanding leadership’ in National Leadership Programme

16 December 2014

Dr Suzanne Wakely, Consultant Radiologist at West Middlesex University Hospital, has been awarded a prize for the outstanding leadership she has demonstrated throughout her year-long project, ‘Leading Transformational Culture Change Programme’.

Dr Suzanne Wakely, Consultant Radiologist at West Middlesex University Hospital, has been awarded a prize for the outstanding leadership she has demonstrated throughout her year-long project, ‘Leading Transformational Culture Change Programme’.

Suzanne undertook the project in partnership with Colorectal Surgeon Jason Smith's clinic at West Middlesex where her and the team piloted a new way of arranging diagnostic tests and follow up appointments. The aim of the project was to improve the patient experience by reducing the length of time patients wait between having their diagnostic test and their follow up appointment, where they receive the results and a treatment plan can be decided upon.

Previously the average waiting time was 40 days. In order to improve this, a number of new processes were implemented:

  • a redesigned clinic outcome form
  • improved co-ordination between the imaging and outpatient booking teams
  • a new telephone clinic to add capacity and reduce visits to the hospital
  • a redesign of the imaging booking process

The new processes mean that once the timing of diagnostic tests is known, the outpatient follow up appointment is booked for one to two weeks after the test has been carried out.

These changes were launched in July and had an immediate impact. The latest figures show the average time patients now have to wait is 13 days. The time it takes to book an imaging test has also reduced from 18 days to 2-3 days.

As well as reducing the waiting time between appointments, there has also been a fall in the number of patients not attending their appointments. The average ‘did not attend’ rate for the telephone clinic is just 3.6% compared to 11.7% for conventional clinics.

Dr Wakely commented on her achievements: “This has been a huge team effort and the project wouldn’t have seen such positive results without the help and support of my colleagues Jason Smith, Jane Clift, Debbie Stevens, Rashpal Kaur and Maya Patel, to name a few. So far we have only introduced it to one consultant’s clinic so the future goals are to spread the good practice to the rest of the colorectal clinic and then eventually to other clinics throughout the hospital. It has been a really interesting and satisfying way to spend my time and it is so rewarding to see the positive change take place.”

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