Cardiff implements city-wide PACS from Agfa

Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust has announced it has gone live with an Agfa PACS solution that allows it to transfer images between its nine sites in and around the Welsh capital.

Tom Henderson, PACS manager for the trust, explained: "In a trust of this size, it can sometimes be quite difficult to ensure that images on film find their way from one side of the city to another safely and quickly. With PACS in place, the likelihood of lost or damaged images is virtually zero."

"The important thing about PACS is that it removes all geographical and time constraints," added Henderson. "If a patient needs a second-opinion from a doctor on another site, that doctor can gain instant access to the images on any computer on the network."

The trust, which is the largest in Wales, has claimed what it calls an "unofficial world record" in the transfer of patient data from old systems onto new, saying that 8.7 terabytes (8700Gb) were moved in two days.

Mr John Howes, spinal surgeon and clinical director for trauma, said the new PACS had made his job more straightforward. "My role involves working on two sites, so there were often times when films weren’t available to us when we needed them.

"Being able to access images immediately, and also being able to distort and manipulate the images, has revolutionised the way we see patients by making the whole process of diagnosis much quicker."

The trust hopes that the implementation of PACS will help it achieve its target of a maximum 26-week patient journey by 2009.

The nine sites that PACS has been installed across are Barry Hospital, Cardiff Royal Infirmary West Wing, Children’s Hospital for Wales, Llandough Hospital, Rookwood Hospital, St David’s Hospital, University Dental Hospital, University Hospital of Wales, and Whitchurch Hospital.