First of five UK diagnostic centres is destined for the Taunton area

Rutherford Health has agreed a contract with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust to provide diagnostic services via a new state-of-the-art diagnostics facility. The agreement has been reached with diagnostics subsidiary Rutherford Diagnostics and will last for five years, with an option to extend to 10 years. The centre is expected to be built and operational by the second half of 2021.

Diagnostic services will include PET, CT, MRI, ultrasound, endoscopy, x-ray and other relevant diagnostic services, which will be facilitated by Rutherford Health’s long-term technology partner Royal Philips.
In addition to providing services to NHS patients, the centre will be available to private medical insurance and self-pay patients in the south-west.

In addition to providing services to NHS patients, the centre will be available to private medical insurance and self-pay patients in the south-west.

The diagnostics centre will be the first of up to five such centres to be built under a development framework agreement between Rutherford Health and Equitix, an investor, developer and fund manager of core infrastructure and energy efficiency assets in the UK and Europe. The site in the Taunton area is yet to be confirmed.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust director of strategy and improvement David Shannon said: “We are delighted to enter into this contract with Rutherford Diagnostics to provide diagnostic services to the population of Somerset. This contract will support us to deliver real improvements to our patients. We want to ensure that we have access to timely, state-of-the-art diagnostics and to provide the best possible experience for our patients. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant our access to diagnostic capacity has been, and will continue to be, compromised making this development even more important.”

Rutherford Health ceo Mike Moran said: “Our state-of-the-art facility will be built at no capital cost to the NHS but it will primarily be NHS patients who benefit. This partnership is also very timely. The need for faster, more efficient diagnostics services was identified as a priority in the NHS 10-year plan and that was prior to the pandemic and the knock-on effect it is going to have on services for some time to come. We hope that this partnership will act as a catalyst to transform diagnostic services in Britain.”

The 10-year agreement between Royal Philips and Rutherford will utilise Philips’ radiology technology and Rutherford Diagnostics’ healthcare expertise to deliver and operate advanced personalised diagnostic services through the new centres across the UK.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is built around a managed technology service, Philips will deliver state-of-the-art imaging equipment, management and technology utilisation reporting, continuous training and a research and innovation programme.

“For Philips, a successful partnership approach uses technology as an enabler to drive sustainable and improved clinical practices, patient outcomes and experience through innovation,” said Philips solutions lead in the UK and Ireland Stephen McMillan.

“The current pandemic response has exacerbated the continuing challenges around how to ensure prompt access to healthcare as demand increases. Community diagnostic and training centres have the ability to transform the current model of care delivery by providing access to ‘right first time’ diagnostic and treatment services closer to patient settings. Philips is proud to partner with Rutherford and looks forward to supporting the opening of the Taunton centre.”

Published on page 4 of the August 2020 issue of RAD Magazine.