A consortium of NHS trusts in Surrey and Sussex has signed to use the Sectra medical imaging system to support patient diagnostics.
Ashford and St. Peter's Hospitals, East Sussex Healthcare, Queen Victoria Hospital, Royal Surrey and University Hospitals Sussex are taking part in the deal.
The system is also expected to link with two other trusts in the region and with London hospitals as needed, using open standards to make imaging discoverable and retrievable.
It will give clinicians instant access to a range of images including x-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans and MRIs.
Sectra said that third party visualisation tools, which currently need to be opened in a separate screen, will now open and in the picture archiving and communication system, removing the need to move from one system to another.
Mobility benefits
Dr Benjamin Salt, clinical lead for the consortium and consultant interventional radiologist and deputy chief clinical information officer at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “Some of the biggest benefits will be for patients who move around the region as they are referred to specialist centres at different trusts – whether that’s for cancer care, trauma, vascular medicine, ophthalmology, head and neck, plastics, liver, pancreatic surgery and more.”
He added: “And an emergency department in one hospital will be able to discuss imaging live with a specialist team at another site. We will be able to view and act on imaging in a way that we haven’t before.”
The consortium covers a population of circa 1.2 million and the system is expected to handle approximately 1.7 million examinations per year.
Image from Sectra
