PACS Project Implemented in Scotland

Carestream Health (Rochester, NY, USA) has signed an access agreement with the Lothian Health Board (Edinburgh) in Scotland, as part of its contract with National Services Scotland (NSS), the procurement body for UK National Health Service (NHS) Scotland, for the UK National Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) Project.

With the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary at its core, Lothian is one of the largest Health Boards in Scotland, and provides a range of care to the people of Edinburgh, Lothian, and beyond over ten hospital sites. NHS Lothian is delighted to commence our PACS implementation in conjunction with Carestream Health and NSS, said Martin Egan, director of eHealth, NHS Lothian.

NSS awarded the prime contract for the UK National PACS Project in December 2005 for Carestream PACS and information management systems (IMS) to be installed at 39 hospitals within Scotland's 15 Health Boards and connect to a further 67 satellite centers with X-ray departments. Following successful implementation across four Health Boards, including two initial sites in Glasgow during 2006--the Southern General Hospital, which includes the Institute of Neurological Sciences and the Victoria Infirmary, and more recently Dumfries & Galloway Health Board and the Golden Jubilee National Waiting Time Center, Clydebank--a phased roll-out is well under way throughout Scotland and remains within budget. Full deployment is scheduled for 2008 and is set to manage an estimated 3.2 million exams annually.

Carestream Health's system for the Scotland National PACS Project utilizes the unique benefits of the Kodak Versatile Intelligent Patient Archive (VIParchive) software to realize the ambition of NHS Scotland of creating a holistic view of a patient's medical record. The VIParchive system stores and manages virtually all types of multi-media clinical information, including radiology images, laboratory results, video files, and other non-Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) data, from multiple sources into two central data centers. Critical to the Scotland system is that authorized users at every hospital across the country can access prior images and reports, regardless of where they were generated, making this a true national archive and regional system where images can be shared across Scotland.

Carestream Health, an independent company, has licensed the Kodak brand for use with its own brands--such as Carestream, Directview, and Dryview--across its range of medical imaging and healthcare information technology (IT) products.


Related Links:
Carestream Health
Lothian Health Board