Kodak network starts developing in Glasgow hospitals

Glasgow’s Southern General and Victoria Infirmary hospitals are reported to be on track to launch Kodak’s Carestream picture archiving and communications system (Pacs) this summer.

They will be the first two hospitals in Scotland to adopt the Kodak network as part of a deal with National Services Scotland to install Pacs into 39 Scottish hospitals and 67 smaller centres.

The digital network will replace time-consuming manual archiving systems with the ability to instantly access digital x-ray records from anywhere in the country and produce on-the-spot images for x-ray scans, without the need for traditional films.

Dr Paul Duffy, clinical director of imaging services at Southern General, told the Glasgow Evening Times: “The whole process would take at least a day. Using this system, a patient’s scan in Aberdeen can be viewed by a consultant in Govan, for instance, in real time.”

The chief executive of National Services Scotland, Professor Stuart Bain, said that the ability to share clinical information securely “would be of great benefit to both patients and staff alike”.

Kodak says that this is its largest Carestream contract yet and it predicts that the nationwide implementation of the Pacs project will be completed during 2008.

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