The nine projects at the heart of NHS IT

Picture Archiving and Communications System (Pacs)

This will allow images such as X-rays and scans to be stored digitally, and all but removes traditional film from the process. As a result health professionals can access them on laptops or tablet PCs, speeding up the delivery of information - and cutting the costs associated with film processing and storage.

Pacs is being delivered throughout England within five regions or "clusters", each working with a single Local Service Provider (LSP).

What progress so far?

The NHS aims to have "the bulk" of the deployment completed by March next year. Twelve trusts and one radiology academy are using Pacs from NHS Connecting for Health. More than nine million images are now stored on new systems.