Ultrasound staffing solutions for NHS trusts

Atlas Diagnostics is the UK’s largest provider of secondary care ultrasound supporting NHS trusts with flexible, fully managed ultrasound staffing.

Our UK-trained, NHS-experienced sonographers integrate seamlessly into clinical teams to expand scanning capacity, reduce waiting lists, and maintain high standards of patient care.

Whether you require short-term backlog support or a long-term workforce partner, Atlas delivers bespoke service models aligned to your operational needs.

registered specialist sonographers

0 +

ultrasound shifts delivered monthly

0 +

patient scans performed each month

0 +

shift attendance rate, ensuring service reliability

0 %

*Figures taken over an annual period

Overview of service

We provide experienced, fully compliant sonographers across all ultrasound modalities:

Obstetric ultrasound
General medical ultrasound
Non-obstetric gynaecology
Paediatric ultrasound
Specialist and complex diagnostic imaging
Vascular
FNAs

All Atlas sonographers are:

UK trained and NHS experienced
Registered with HCPC, NMC, SVT and RCT.
Fully indemnified and compliance-checked
Audited for 10% of all work carried out

Case Study

How Atlas Helped a Major NHS Trust Cut Ultrasound Waiting Lists and Scale Services on Demand

The Challenge:

Like many NHS trusts, the ultrasound department was facing a growing challenge: increasing demand for ultrasound scans, workforce shortages, and long waiting lists that risked compromising patient experience. Traditional locum agencies offered limited solutions, they could provide bodies, but not the continuity, flexibility, or planning support needed to truly transform service delivery.

“Atlas has demonstrated the ability to respond quickly and flexibly to our needs, providing additional shifts when last-minute funding became available, allowing us to increase activity at short notice without compromising on quality”. — Ultrasound Service Manager

The Atlas Solution:

From the outset, Atlas approached the partnership differently. Instead of transactional placements, they offered access to a dedicated pool of sonographers who could integrate into the Trust’s service week after week.

Proactive Workforce Planning – Atlas delivers rotas a month in advance, giving the Trust the ability to plan clinics, staffing, and funding allocations with confidence.
Scalable Support – When last-minute funding became available, Atlas was able to supply extra shifts at short notice, enabling the Trust to boost activity immediately without sacrificing quality.
Specialist Focus – Unlike generic agencies, Atlas’ dedicated sonographer workforce provides continuity, familiarity, and higher efficiency in both obstetric and non-obstetric scans.

The Impact:

This partnership has directly improved service delivery for patients.

Waiting Lists Reduced
Improved Patient Care
Operational Certainty

“The support from Atlas has directly contributed to reducing our ultrasound waiting lists, which in turn has helped improve patient care and experience.” — Ultrasound Service Manager

Why Atlas over traditional agencies?

While other agencies can provide locum staff, Atlas offers something far more powerful:

A specialist sonographer bank ready to flex with demand.
Continuity of care, ensuring familiarity for patients and staff alike.
Operational confidence, allowing managers to plan, not firefight.

“Unlike many generic locum agencies, Atlas offers access to a dedicated bank of sonographers, making it significantly easier to scale activity up or down based on clinical demand. While this may come at a higher cost, the operational flexibility and continuity of care it enables are more valuable to us for higher activity volume than the traditional agency model.” — Ultrasound Service Manager

The Challenge:

The Atlas Solution:

Proactive Workforce Planning – Atlas delivers rotas a month in advance, giving the Trust the ability to plan clinics, staffing, and funding allocations with confidence.
Scalable Support – When last-minute funding became available, Atlas was able to supply extra shifts at short notice, enabling the Trust to boost activity immediately without sacrificing quality.
Specialist Focus – Unlike generic agencies, Atlas’ dedicated sonographer workforce provides continuity, familiarity, and higher efficiency in both obstetric and non-obstetric scans.

The Impact:

This partnership has directly improved service delivery for patients.

Waiting Lists Reduced
Improved Patient Care
Operational Certainty

“The support from Atlas has directly contributed to reducing our ultrasound waiting lists, which in turn has helped improve patient care and experience.” — Ultrasound Service Manager

Why Atlas over traditional agencies?

While other agencies can provide locum staff, Atlas offers something far more powerful:

A specialist sonographer bank ready to flex with demand.
Continuity of care, ensuring familiarity for patients and staff alike.
Operational confidence, allowing managers to plan, not firefight.

Clinical governance & compliance

Clinical confidence

All Atlas sonographers are:

UK-based and fully HCPC, NMC, SVT and RCT registered
Experienced in NHS diagnostic pathways
Covered by appropriate indemnity

Ensuring safe, compliant service delivery aligned to NHS standards.

Market leading audit

We monitor and audit Atlas team members across all modalities, each month, taking that pressure off you and ensuring the highest standards of service delivery.

Radiology Events and Learning Meetings (REALM)

Atlas facilitates weekly discrepancy review forums that promote open clinical discussion and shared learning.

Insights are distributed through:

Monthly newsletters
Quarterly education events
Shared best-practice and learning across partner organisations

Why choose Atlas?

Clinically led by experienced consultant radiologists

UK’s largest dedicated secondary care ultrasound provider

Specialist sonographer workforce (not generalist locums)

Reliable high-volume scanning capacity

Robust clinical governance and audit systems

Trusted NHS partner since 2011

Need support with radiology capacity?

Speak directly with our clinical team to discuss ultrasound services, reporting support, or backlog reduction for your trust.