Airedale NHS Trust, in Keighley, West Yorkshire, has installed a PACS system that allows x-rays to be stored and shared. The system (below), developed and installed by Siemens, replaces the original arrangement of light boxes, films and manual cataloguing. Instead, screens have been placed throughout the hospital so that clinicians can access the images they need. Chris Scarisbrick, PACS Manager at Airedale NHS Trust, said: "The advent of PACS has been a revelation and not a single staff member would revert back to the ‘old way’ of doing things. “Our radiologists can now report from the comfort of their office without travelling to and from the sorting room with mountains of film. X-ray images are automatically distributed to the appropriate specialists, whichever part of the hospital they are working in. In addition, moving to a digital system has removed the risk of x-ray images being mixed-up, misfiled, lost or damaged." Neil Mearns, operations manager at Siemens Medical Solutions, said: “We are delighted to have brought the benefits of PACS to Airedale NHS Trust." The equipment and installation of the PACS system was funded through a Private Finance Initiative.
