TY - JOUR T1 - Imaging in primary care JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 563 LP - 564 VL - 56 IS - 529 AU - Graham Cherryman Y1 - 2006/08/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/56/529/563.abstract N2 - GPs who have access to diagnostic testing from primary care, and clear referral guidelines to follow will utilise these resources as efficiently as hospital doctors.1,2 Yet many GPs in the UK still feel constrained by local limitations on direct access to imaging tests, especially to the more complex investigations such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and X-ray computed tomography (CT).This should change. In England the NHS is committed to providing more diagnostic testing in primary care.3 This is seen as a key enabler for reducing the total number of secondary care referrals. In addition, it is hoped that when secondary care referral is still required, pre-referral testing will speed up the patient journey ensuring, for example in England, a maximum wait of 18 weeks between referral and treatment.GPs will rightly welcome improved and often more local access to diagnostic testing. For them there will be the challenge to make the best use of this resource. In future, GP's will need to be comfortable with the use of a greater range of diagnostic tests and confident that better direct access to testing will not lead to a reduction in patient care and outcome.GPs and GP educators must ensure that primary care is armed with the appropriate knowledge and tools to take advantage of the impending imaging revolution. GP commissioners must ensure that clinical and quality standards are met. Better primary care commissioning with auditable standards for waiting times and turnaround times should lead to electronic messaging between practice and provider to allow follow-up examinations to be booked at the time of the first consultation, with the radiological report available in a timely fashion. This will considerably reduce GP frustration and patient delay.Digital image acquisition, computer-based image and information management are the new prerequisites … ER -