Partnership brings Europe’s first cloud radiology PACS deployment

GE Healthcare and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the first European cloud deployment of Edison True PACS at The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham.

The solution will provide radiologists, who are experiencing increasing pressure, with intelligent productivity tools that help enhance reading speed, reduce errors, improve diagnostic precision, and enable more-confident diagnoses.

GE Healthcare’s strategic collaboration agreement with AWS enables delivery of cloud-based imaging solutions, integrated data, and clinical operational insights to hospitals and healthcare providers.

The aim is to help providers to transition from the traditional care delivery model in a hospital setting to a more-decentralised model that is virtual and distributed.

Edison True PACS, a diagnostic imaging and workflow solution, is designed to help enable radiologists to be more efficient and precise, while keeping capital and IT resources under control for the management teams. It also enables remote and convenient access to the different tools needed by healthcare professionals to take care of their patients, such as teleradiology and home reporting.

Many organisations demand easier and quicker ways to deploy new imaging platforms for their radiology departments, with less internal IT resources, at a lower cost, and ensuring the maximum levels of security and data protection

One of the most-useful tools at The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital is the ZFP 3D viewer, which will enable the staff to view 3D images at the patient bedside and on their mobile phones, providing them with access to information any time, anywhere.

“Radiologists are increasingly looking for tools that help them do their job more effectively using fewer resources,” said David Labajo, vice president of digital at GE Healthcare Europe.

“But many organisations demand easier and quicker ways to deploy new imaging platforms for their radiology departments, with less internal IT resources, at a lower cost, and ensuring the maximum levels of security and data protection.

“Cloud-based tools enable remote and convenient access to the different tools needed with a smaller footprint and long-term cost of ownership.”

Kira Levy, head of public sector for healthcare UK at AWS, added: “AWS empowers healthcare organisations to provide patient-centric care, improve patient outcomes, and fast-track the modernisation of healthcare systems.

Cloud-based tools enable remote and convenient access to the different tools needed with a smaller footprint and long-term cost of ownership

“We are proud to bring our partnership with GE to Europe and are eager to see how Edison True PACS can provide an improved experience to the patients, doctors, and staff at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital.

And the hospital’s IT programme manager, Liam Maiden, said: “We’re really proud to be one of the early adopters of the GE True PACS solution in Europe, which complements our ongoing Cloud Transformation Programme, NHS Digital Cloud First Policy, and our commitment to innovation.

“With continuous cyber security patching and maintenance that cloud hosting offers, we are able to further enhance the resiliency of our PACS network.

“ Not only will this migration help to reduce our carbon footprint, but will allow us to dynamically upscale and downscale our environment to meet business needs – making work easier for colleagues and improve our patient’s experience.”

The hospital will also be using Edison AI Orchestrator, enabling it to access a curated selection of apps from GE Healthcare and third parties.