By Steve Ranger, 8 September 2005 12:00
NEWS The NHS has cemented the final deals which will see it roll out a digital Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (Pacs) across England.
NHS Connecting for Health has confirmed that Accenture will deploy a system based on technology from Agfa in the east and northeast of England in a £325m deal.
Similar agreements are already in place with NHS suppliers covering the rest of the country.
The deal had been delayed by an unsuccessful bidder, Fuji, which failed in its challenge to the procurement process in the courts.
The NHS said that in time, nearly all images used in the NHS in England such as X-rays and scans will be stored, transmitted and viewed digitally: "Just as most households are abandoning the use of 'wet film' and moving to digital images so, too, is the NHS in England."
It added that the system will make diagnosis quicker by reducing the time taken for images to become available, and images will be able to be viewed from any PC rather than on a traditional lightbox. Pacs also supports the storage and transmission of moving images such as ultrasound scans.
Three NHS trusts are already using the system with nearly 150,000 digital images currently stored.
Dr Robin Kantor, consultant radiologist at the Hillingdon and Mount Vernon Hospitals Trust, which is trialling Pacs, said in a statement: "I've noticed that patients are much happier that they are spending less time in the radiology department. Now that we have Pacs, we will never go back to film."
NHS IT director general Richard Granger said in a statement: "I was disappointed that delay was inflicted on the NHS and our patients by the failed legal challenge. Today we have completed the contractual jigsaw and I look forward to driving implementation so that Pacs becomes ubiquitous in English hospitals and the benefits are made real."
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