25th March 2010
Home-based PACS offer NHS a resilient network
Increased use of home-based PACS systems is beginning to offer the NHS a resilient network capable of maintaining service even during a time of national emergency.
“When the country was hit by snowstorms early in the year, many Trust customers realised they could still get reports from our network without a hitch even though some radiology departments had people struggling to get into work”, said Simon Rasalingham, Chief Executive of Medica, the UK’s largest teleradiology company with more than 70 consultant radiologists in the field.
Meanwhile, in early February, the energy regulator, Ofgem warned that the UK could face power shortages, citing “the unprecedented challenge of the credit crunch and the unprecedented challenge of maintaining international supplies”.
“Home-based PACS will prove resilient to regional power cuts and also to terrorist threat because there is no single hub that can be taken out”, Mr Rasalingham added.
Dr Erika Denton, the Department of Health’s National Clinical Lead for Diagnostic Imaging, has forecast that teleradiology will become a mainstay for the NHS. "We will see much more local reporting and reporting from home”, she confirmed.
For further information about this news article, contact John V. Wright, Blue Planet Communications, 07710 454214.
Notes for Editors
MEDICA
The Medica Group partners more than 70 NHS Trusts across the country and today operates the largest remote radiology reporting network in the UK.
Its consultant radiologists report on patient scans derived from X-Ray, MRI, CT, Ultrasound and other medical technologies.
Each consultant is equipped at home with a state-of-the-art PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) workstation. Connecting directly into the secure RIS (Radiology Information System) at the hospital where the patient was scanned, consultants provide both verbal and detailed written reports on the scans they have received. These essential reports enable doctors at the hospital to determine the best course of treatment for their patients.
A&E ADMISSIONS
The freezing conditions in January saw a large increase in NHS admissions of patients with fractures and other medical problems that require scans. Each scan has to be reported on by a qualified person, usually a consultant radiologist.
Tony Curtis, Chief Executive at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, reported that severe wintry weather had resulted in a high number of emergency and serious medical admissions. The hospitals had seen “a large influx of patients with broken bones, particularly wrist and hip fractures caused by people falling on ice”.
Hospitals in Scotland were said to be swamped with injured people who had slipped and fallen on icy roads and pavements. Aberdeen Royal Infirmary A&E reported a 60 per cent increase in fractures and attendance up by almost 20 per cent.
For further information on our remote Reporting Service, please telephone
0845 0569 750 and ask for the Business Development Team, or email us: info@medicagroup.co.uk
