NHS Pacs up digital x-rays

Picture Archiving and Communications System

Digital x-rays are being used in every NHS Hospital Trust in London and will be available across the country by 2008, the Department of Health announced today.

Whitehall said that the filmless Picture Archiving and Communications System (Pacs) enables faster diagnoses for patients.

Pacs replaces the capture of x-rays and scans on film and paper with clinical images stored electronically and viewed on screen.

A total of 92 NHS Trusts and over 250 hospitals across the UK have already installed digital x-ray technology as part of the National Programme for IT.

The 21 Trusts in London currently using Pacs will save in excess of £6.2m in the first year of service.

Diagnosis times nationally using the Pacs systems have been halved from more than six days to under three. Completion of national Pacs coverage is expected in "late 2007 early 2008".

Richard Granger, head of Connecting for Health, said: "The National Programme for IT is not just about computers, it is about patients and it is about supporting NHS staff to deliver the best possible patient care.

"The achievement with digital imaging in London is an important part of the bigger picture in which hundreds of new systems have already been installed, benefiting tens of thousands of clinicians and millions of patients."