Accenture wins extension to NHS PACS contract
Deal will see delivery of PACS systems until 2016
Accenture has been awarded a one-year contract extension by the Department of Health to continue providing Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) to NHS trusts in the North East, East of England and East Midlands.
The contract, which will run until 30 June, 2016, enables trusts to procure PACS technology, allowing for the electronic capture, viewing, storage and distribution of medical images including X-rays and MRI and CT scans.
Under the deal, Accenture will continue to manage the Central Data Store, which provides trusts with a centrally-hosted, long-term image archive, until the end of the contract. This enables NHS organisations to postpone costs that would have otherwise been incurred for data localisation – the process of moving their large imaging history in-house or to other providers.
“PACS is an excellent example of how technology is helping to improve patient care by providing clinicians with easy access to medical images and enabling them to make decisions more quickly,” said Matt Oakley, who leads Accenture’s medical images practice in the UK and Ireland.
As part of the contract, Accenture is working closely with Agfa Healthcare, the software supplier for PACS and the Central Data Store, and Hitachi Data Systems, which supplies storage for the Central Data Store.