QSI

QSI was developed in collaboration between the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) and the College of Radiographers (CoR). It sets out the national quality criteria for imaging services, giving Trusts the opportunity to assess their performance and continually make improvements. 

The West Midlands Imaging Network (WMIN)Executive board has adopted the QSI Standard as the quality measure for imaging services across the Network. To support the accreditation journeys for the 15 Trusts within the Network, we have a dedicated programme manager, Holly Warriner. This role aims to bring the Network together to share good practice and facilitate mentoring, as well as providing individual support to QSI leads across the region.  

Quality Forum

In July 2023, we hosted our inaugural Quality Forum which brought QSI leads across the Network together to build connections and determine a work programme for the upcoming year.  

This forum aims to provide several benefits to the Network:  

• By bringing together QSI leads there is the opportunity to build new relationships with other people working towards the same goal. This allows members to learn from each other and ensures people are not working in isolation. 
• The overall productivity will be improved as members will be able to share existing policies and procedures avoiding duplication of efforts. 
• The Quality Forum will allow for members to work through problems as a group and set task and finish groups incorporating a wider working group on shared issues. The meetings will bring the ability to arrange education sessions or for guest speakers to support the member’s priorities. 

The forum established a work programme to include: 

• Longer term project to look at improving processes surrounding the management of non-medical referrers. 
• A consistent Network-wide approach for establishing pregnancy status. 
• A quick win for developing MRI, IRR and IRMER safety audits. 
• Sharing good practice in the use of SharePoint as a document management system. 

Future projects may also include: 

• Developing common patient information media including leaflets and videos 
• Sharing patient experience surveys  

Quality Standard for Imaging Networks (QSIN) 

There is a second type of QSI accreditation QSIN was launched at The UK Imaging and Oncology Congress (UKIO) in July 2022. With the national direction of developing imaging networks across the UK, the RCR and CoR have developed a standalone accreditation for Networks.  

This Standard consists of 12 statements over 6 sections: 

• IN-1 Involving Patients and Carers  
• IN-2 Workforce  
• IN-3 Network Equipment and Procurement  
• IN-5 Guidelines  
• IN-6 Network Organisation  

• IN-7 Network Assurance 

The West Midlands Imaging Network has used the Standard as a template to develop our governance frameworks and to drive our work programmes.  

For more information on the Standards: 

• QSI – The Quality Standard for Imaging (QSI) | The Royal College of Radiologists (rcr.ac.uk) 
• QSIN – Quality Standard for Imaging Networks (QSIN) | The Royal College of Radiologists (rcr.ac.uk)