RICO LOGISTICS WINS MRI SCANNING CONTRACT

Rico Logistics is playing its part in tackling England’s waiting lists  for MRI scans.

The Slough-based logistics group has landed a contract with DX – the UK’s leading independent provider of early, morning next day business mail - involving daily national collections of MRI scans from hospitals visited by 12 mobile scanner units.

The mobile units and their staff are provided by Warwick-based Alliance Medical, the largest provider of medical imaging services in Europe, and have increased the nation’s scanning capacity by 16 per cent.

Rico’s task is to collect the scans from the mobile units and deliver them to the closes DX Systems trunking depot, or depending on the location of the hospitals, their central distribution hub in the Midlands.

For scans carried out at weekend, Rico delivers the scans direct to the Alliance Medical MRI Scan facility at Stratford-upon-Avon before midday on Mondays.

“The logistics involved are immense and we visit each participating hospital to familiarise ourselves with the location of the mobile units,” said Simi Punn, national accounts manager for Rico.

“Our national call centre manages the schedules and controls the courier collections and deliveries. Once we know which hospitals are to be visited by the mobile units, we schedule the collection times, allowing a 15-minute window either side.

“Each sealed courier bag then has a ‘DX number’, for tracking purposes,” she said.