Updated 17 June 2024
Date of assessment 10 July and 18 July 2024. Positron emission tomography - computed tomography (better known as PET-CT) is a nuclear medicine technique, which combines a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner and a computed tomography (CT) scanner. When used to stage cancer a short acting mildly radioactive sugar substance (radiotracer) is injected into the patient to show up areas of the body where cells are more active than normal. PET-CT Mobile Services is commissioned by 12 NHS Trusts (14 sites) across England. Approximately 97% of the scans undertaken were to provide staging of cancers, to help doctors decide what treatment was best, and look at whether treatment was working. The other 3% of scans looked at dementia or infections when no obvious source of infection could be identified. From the day of referral the service had 7 days to contact the patient, provide their PET-CT Scan and report the findings back to their referring trust. We inspected 2 of the provider’s 8 PET-CT mobile units located at City Hospital in Sandwell, and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Each unit was entered through the control room, to the left was the scanning room, to the right there were 2 uptake rooms, where patients received the injection of radiotracer. Beyond the uptakes rooms was the hot lab where the radiotracer was stored and prepared for injection. The inspection team comprised of a CQC inspector and a specialist advisor with expertise in diagnostic imaging. We spoke with 15 members of staff, 6 patients and observed interactions with patients on both days. Five NHS trusts the provider worked with gave us feedback about their partnership working.