The British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) is delighted that Specialist Cardiac Diagnostics have joined the charter to demonstrate that they are meeting minimum standards when providing insourced and community services to the NHS.
Ms Jo Sopala, Chief Executive Officer of the BSE said, “It is fantastic to see that almost two years on, there is still commitment to and interest in joining our charter from the sector. Our signatories continue to uphold the highest standards and it’s great to welcome Specialist Cardiac Diagnostics to the group.”
The minimum standards agreed under the charter are:
- Minimum appointment duration of 45 minutes is required for an accredited echocardiographer to perform a complete diagnostic echocardiogram and to compose the accompanying report, unless local policy dictates otherwise.
- The BSE minimum dataset is the minimum required imaging protocol when performing a complete diagnostic echocardiogram and should be reported fully.
- All echocardiograms will be reported in accordance with the latest BSE guidelines, with active provision of ongoing CPD mandated and checks in place to ensure compliance.
- Processes must be established to ensure and maintain echocardiographer competence, including robust pre-employment checks and confirmation of competence. Pre-employment checks should include checking up to date knowledge of BSE guidelines. This could be evidenced by demonstration of completion of relevant eLearning modules.
- Echocardiographers will be supported to assure high-quality echos for patients. Where the company is responsible for the quality assurance (QA), it will be carried out by a BSE accredited echocardiographer.
- Patients are best served when echocardiographers have had the benefit of a broad base of training and exposure. It is acknowledged that some of this will be gained post accreditation, therefore the above-named providers will only recruit staff with 20 months post-accreditation experience, unless additional training and support is in place. This does not include organisations which are training pre-accredited trainees.
- Appropriate remedial action will be taken in the event of substandard practice being identified. This should include removal from independent clinical practice (i.e. scanning and independent reporting) across all healthcare systems, engaging with host departments to identify and support re-education requirements with appropriate levels of supervision (for instance reviewing reports before being sent), and to reintegrate full independent practice only when safe to do so.
Specialist Cardiac Diagnostics join the existing signatories Echogenicity, Elective Services, FCMS, Health Now Physiological Measurements, Sanus Cor, SET Healthcare and Xyla Services.
Read the full charter