Philips selects Acuo as partner for multi-site federated vendor neutral archive in UK

Acuo Technologies®, the world leader in high-performance software and services for clinical content management and data migration, announced today it has been selected as the preferred supplier to work with technology partner and prime contractor Philips in the United Kingdom to implement a multi-site federated vendor neutral archive, featuring fully-distributed data management with centralized administration, to be shared across six NHS trusts in Surrey and Sussex.   

Working under a contract that expires in 2013, the six trusts are currently using separate picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) to manage radiology images but have been unable to effectively share clinical data as patients move from one department or hospital to another. This lack of interoperability and mobility of data causes a host of clinical issues, driving up costs and delaying treatment for patients.

The new solution, combining the Philips IntelliSpace PACS with Acuo's Universal Clinical Platform VNA and a centralized Rowthorne RIS from HSS, will provide improved clinical collaboration to the Surrey and Sussex systems.

The six trusts taking part in the collaborative procurement, encompassing a total of ten acute-care and 18 community hospitals, are: East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, West Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, Royal Surrey Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

In speaking with eHealth Insider, Dr. Graham Dodge, consultant radiologist and principal lead imaging consultant for the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, commented that the new system "will support the vision to move the NHS closer towards the instantaneous provision of quality images and patient data whenever and wherever they are needed, seamlessly following patient pathways and ensuring accurate and timely diagnosis and reporting."

Under the Philips contract, Acuo will begin migrating existing clinical image data – several million studies held in disparate PACS archives – later this year, and managing over a million new studies annually when the new five-year contract goes into effect in 2013. The Acuo VNA gives the NHS consortium a new platform for growth in radiology studies along with the capability to bring data from other clinical departments into the central archive later on.  

"As the current national PACS program comes to a close," said Mark O'Herlihy, European Business Manager for Acuo Technologies, "this NHS consortium is the first in the U.K. to procure a next-generation clinical content management system, bringing many hospitals together around a fully-interoperable solution. We are seeing the development of a blueprint for VNA growth in the European healthcare market."

"Within this space, Philips operates as a prime contractor working with a portfolio of partners with a proven delivery record to supply best in class products and services tailored specifically to the needs of the client. For this particular initiative, we chose Acuo as our VNA partner in the U.K. based on their previous global experience with Philips customers, and their extensive track record migrating from and to all the major PACS products and data storage solutions," said Robert Childe, Clinical Informatics Commercial Manager for Philips in the U.K. and Ireland. "Acuo provided a great deal of education and guidance throughout the procurement process, helping consortium leaders understand the role a VNA can play in making clinical data more readily-available to NHS providers while helping to reduce overall medical and IT costs."