University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust has awarded a three-year contract to Radiology Reporting Online. 

The contract, worth just under £1m at £939,000, is for a remote radiology reporting service, capable of reviewing and reporting x-rays, CT and MR images.

The company’s radiologists will receive images via a secure connection to the trust’s picture archiving and communications and radiology information systems.

The service will provide extra support during busy periods, helping the trust to meet its targets for reporting times are met.

Radiology Reporting Online’s contract states that it will provide reports within 48 hours of receiving the images.

Brad Sandover, corporate development manager, said in a statement that the firm was able to meet the deadlines by sending the images overnight to Australia.

“We recruit qualified GMC/FRCR radiologists from the UK and then send them to Australia.

"They’re reporting during normal working hours, which means that doctors in the NHS aren’t having to work overnight and then go into their NHS post the next day, tired.”

Sandover said that Radiology Reporting Online provided a remote service to a number of NHS trusts, particularly those in locations where it is more difficult to recruit radiologists.