The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) is to set up a system allowing x-ray images and scans to be electronically stored and mailed across the NHS, it announced on 10 May, 2004.
The technology, known as Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS), will allow doctors to access x-ray information through their computers rather than physically transferring images from one hospital department to another. It is to be rolled out this summer through the five Local Service Providers.
Health minister John Hutton said: "This groundbreaking deal is a great example of how investment in the IT infrastructure is helping to deliver better patient care."
"The digital image will follow the patient wherever they go and will be able to be recalled whenever and wherever they need to be accessed by a patient's healthcare professional."
"Hospitals will no longer have to pay for film, doctors will be able to diagnose […] quicker and patients will receive a faster better service."
Professor Aidan Halligan, the deputy chief medical officer and joint director general of the NPfIT said there would be "wide ranging clinical and patient benefits".
"In addition to patients not having to wait whilst their x-rays are processed and delivered by hand from one department to another, clinicians will no longer have to hold x-rays up to a light box in A&E to make a diagnosis."
The rights to supply PACS have been awarded to:
Richard Granger, the director general of NHS IT said that his team had "negotiated a substantial reduction" in the price of the PACS systems.
