Fifteen NHS trusts across the West Midlands region of the U.K. are moving forward with procurement for the Converged Digital Imaging Platform, a shared diagnostic imaging system that will create a single imaging record for each of the region's 6.6 million patients.
The platform will allow imaging teams across the region to view and report on scans taken at any participating site, enabling cross-site collaboration, shared workloads, and access to subspecialist expertise, regardless of where a patient receives care, according to an announcement from the West Midlands Imaging Network. Clinical teams will have access to a complete imaging history for time-critical decisions, the network said.
The initiative is expected to reduce the costs of individually managed contracts with technology suppliers, the network noted. The initiative is also intended to provide infrastructure for broader adoption of AI and machine-learning technologies across participating trusts.
Once procurement is complete, trusts will deploy in a phased approach as existing individual agreements for radiology information systems and PACS expire. the West Midlands Imaging Network said.
