Internal Reference Number: FOI_9634
Date Request Received: 09/09/2026 00:00:00
Date Request Replied To: 18/09/2026 00:00:00
This response was sent via: By Email
Request Summary: Reporting of hand radiographs requested from ED/UTC
Request Category: Researcher
| Question Number 1: I am requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 about your Trust's arrangements for the formal reporting of plain radiographs of the HAND (metacarpals and phalanges, excluding the wrist and carpus) requested from your Emergency Department or Urgent Treatment Centre. This request forms part of a study of variation in radiology reporting practice across NHS trusts in England. Identical requests are being sent to other acute trusts. Unless stated otherwise, all questions relate to the most recent complete 12-month period for which information is held. 1. Does your radiology department produce a formal report (clinical evaluation by radiology staff, as distinct from the referring clinician's own review) for hand radiographs requested from ED/UTC? Please indicate one: (a) all such examinations (b) a defined subset only (c) none - the referring clinician is responsible for clinical evaluation (an arrangement sometimes described as "auto-reporting") | |
| Answer To Question 1: all such examinations. | |
| Question Number 2: (b), please state the criteria determining which examinations are reported - for example by grade of requesting clinician, time of day, or clinical indication. | |
| Answer To Question 2: n/a | |
| Question Number 3: Please provide a copy of, or link to, any written policy or standard operating procedure specifying which plain radiographs are and are not clinically evaluated by radiology staff. If no such document exists, please state that and describe the arrangement in place. | |
| Answer To Question 3: Please see attached To accompany this answer to question 3 please also see the documents listed below:  Auto reporting SOP.pdf | |
| Question Number 4: Where a report is produced, who provides it? Please indicate all that apply: consultant radiologist; radiology trainee; reporting radiographer; outsourced or teleradiology provider; other (please specify). | |
| Answer To Question 4: ED reports for hands are covered by reporting radiographers, or consultant radiologists if they are combined in a packed with a chest or abdomen x-ray. | |
| Question Number 5: Please state any turnaround standard or target specified in your reporting policy or service level agreement for plain radiographs requested from ED/UTC (for example, "reported within 24 hours"). If your Trust also holds data on actual reporting turnaround for these examinations, please state the median time from examination to report authorisation. | |
| Answer To Question 5: No specific standard for ED hand x-rays however a 1-week turnaround probably fits best (urgent out-patients). | |
| Question Number 6: Do you operate a formal process for identifying and acting on discrepancies between the ED clinician's interpretation and the radiology report? (yes / no) | |
| Answer To Question 6: All fractures identified on ED plain radiographs should have *CODE RED* applied to the report as per alerts and notification imaging 鈥� these are then acted on by ED clinicians the following morning. | |
| Question Number 7: Do you currently use, or have you used in the past 24 months, any artificial intelligence software for fracture detection on plain radiographs? (yes / no) | |
| Answer To Question 7: No | |
| Question Number 8: If yes to question 7, please state: (a) the product name; (b) when it was introduced; and (c) which of the following best describes its use: - output displayed to the reporting clinician alongside the image - used to prioritise the reporting worklist - used to determine which examinations receive a formal report - used to produce a report without human review - other (please specify) | |
| Answer To Question 8: N/A | |
| Please see Attachments: | |
| To return to the list of all the FOI requests please click here | |
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