The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust’s echocardiography service have received full departmental accreditation awards from the British Society of Echocardiography following an immensely successful year.
Successes of the service include securing commissioning for two trainees a year, accreditation in training, transthoracic, transoesophageal, stress, and emergency echocardiograph.
The team have also set up a community diagnostic centre at Brierley Hill Health and Social Care Centre to tackle waiting lists, with the centre already seeing routine patients in six weeks and urgent referrals within a week.
Newly diagnosed heart failure patients are also benefitting from the collaboration between the echocardiography team, specialist heart failure nurses and consultant cardiologists to facilitate faster specialist consultations, treatment and management plans.
Kerry Iftakhar, the Trust’s echocardiography service lead, said: “Achieving full departmental accreditation is a testament to the unwavering dedication, expertise and resilience of the echocardiography team.
I am immensely proud of their hard work and collaborative spirit, which have not only elevated our service but also set a benchmark for quality. This accomplishment is a celebration of their efforts and is a steppingstone towards future service development and achievements.”
Investment is being made into the echocardiography team with specialist training in congenial heart disease and advanced clinical practice. Additionally, within the team there is a ‘Wellbeing Champion’ and an ‘Improvement Champion’ to assist in continual development and improvement of echocardiography services, whilst recognising the importance of staff wellbeing.
Diane Wake, chief executive of The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust said: “I am extremely proud to see our echocardiography team receive the recognition they rightly deserve.
The value of an efficient cardiology service cannot be understated in our aim to reduce waiting times and provide the best health care possible for our local population.”
