Philips wins first locally-procured PACS/RIS tender
Surrey and Sussex trusts collaborate to procure replacement systems following the death of the NPfIT
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has named Philips Healthcare as its preferred bidder for the Sussex and Surrey PACS/RIS/VNA collaborative procurement.
The deal makes Philips the first company to win a locally-procedured PACS/RIS tender for the replacement of systems delivered through the National Programme for IT, which was formally axed last year.
The Sussex and Surrey collaborative is the first in the NHS South of England area to make this announcement following the Department of Health’s decision to discontinue the provision of national contracts for radiology systems beyond June next year
John Atwill, managing director of Philips Healthcare UK, said of the announcement: “Philips is delighted to be awarded preferred bidder status, especially so given that the Sussex and Surrey collaborative is the first in the NHS South area to make this announcement following the Department of Health’s decision to discontinue the provision of national contracts for radiology systems beyond June next year.
“As a leading company in healthcare IT solutions, we are committed to improving lives with meaningful innovation and this initiative will not only simplify clinical workflow and improve operational efficiency and cost reduction, but will also improve quality and essentially patient outcomes.”
This is more than a PACS system. It 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, ensuring accurate and timely diagnosis and reporting
The procurement exercise, which covered seven trusts all with individual requirements, was headed by Dr Neil Crundwell, consultant radiologist at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. It also covers Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, Royal Surrey County Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, initially expressed an interest in this collaborative procedure, but withdrew at an early stage and is understood to be pursuing a replacement for its current LSP-provided PACS/RIS in line with its ongoing Cerner Millennium EPR strategy.
Under the agreement, Philips Healthcare, as prime contractor, together with its IntelliSpace PACS product, is partnering with Acuo Technologies for the provision of Vendor Neutral Archiving technology and HSS for the Radiology Information System. Philips Healthcare will also provide best-of-breed products to deliver fully IHE compliant and state-of-the-art image, data storage and sharing capability.
Dr Graham Dodge, consultant radiologist and principal lead consultant for imaging at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and senior responsible owner for the PACS/RIS replacement programme, told BBH : “This is more than a PACS system. It 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. The trusts collaborating in this procurement will continue to improve the patient journey and efficiency savings through this unique partnership.”
Five of the collaborating trusts currently use the GE PACS and HSS RIS systems provided through the national programme’s local service provider (LSP) initiative; while East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has a contract with Agfa for both PACS and RIS.
The new multi-million pound, five-year contracts are due to be signed by 31 July, when all of the trusts are expected to migrate to the new service before expiry of their current deals end.