NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde      

Any fan of ER or Casualty will be used to the sight of doctors crowding round a viewing box, examining a patient’s x-rays. 

But, this traditional method of viewing x-rays will soon be a thing of the past.  

A new national computer system is set to revolutionise the use of x-rays and other images in hospitals. 

First introduced at the Victoria Infirmary and Southern General Hospital last year, it is now being rolled out to 39 hospitals across Scotland.

In Glasgow, this will be complete by 2008. 

Digital Imaging
PACS (Picture Archive and Communications System) is a computer system which allows the digital capture, viewing, storage and transfer of x-rays and other scans, such as CTs and MRI. 

Once an x-ray is taken, a digital image is immediately captured on computer where it is stored along with previous images and reports.   For the radiologist responsible for interpreting an x-ray, this means instant access to current and old images …and for the patient, this means a faster, more accurate diagnosis.

Computer workstations in wards and clinics throughout the hospital will allow clinical staff to view x-rays and results instantly.  No longer will clinical staff have to chase x-rays films or wait for paper reports to be sent to them from the x-ray department.  PACS will ensure that images can be viewed simultaneously in different locations by all those responsible for their care. 

Instant Access
Dr Andrew Downie, a radiologist based at the Victoria Infirmary where PACS has been installed, is the lead consultant for the roll-out of the system within Glasgow’s hospitals.
 
Explaining its benefits, he said: “If you need to attend A&E with a suspected broken bone, A&E staff can now review and manipulate images on a PC and compare with previous images and reports instantly. They can, if necessary, seek an immediate second opinion from specialists working elsewhere in the hospital who are also able to view the images on their computer.

“Furthermore, as a radiologist, I can report the examinations promptly, without the need to remove the images from the ward, or transport film packets around the hospital. We now report every examination and yet we do it faster.”

The images will also be stored in a central national storage facility meaning that x-rays can be shared by doctors working in different hospitals and in different Health Board areas if necessary.  This will be especially useful in Glasgow’s hospitals which provide a number of regional and national specialist services.

Dr Downie explained:  “Glasgow’s hospitals provide a wide range of highly specialised services for the population of the West of Scotland such as specialist cancer services and neurosurgery. 

“PACS will allow doctors treating these patients within our hospitals to access images and reports from the referring hospital. This will help deliver a faster, more accurate diagnosis and more efficient emergency referrals such as for serious head injuries.  

“This will also aid cross-city working, which will increasingly be a feature of how patients are treated once Glasgow implements in full its major hospital modernisation programme. 

“Whilst patients will continue to get the majority of their care locally, inpatient care will be concentrated in three hospitals.  PACS will allow CT and MRI scans taken at the new Stobhill and Victoria Hospitals to be viewed and reported electronically by specialist radiologists, regardless of which hospital they are working in.”

For some patients, the most obvious difference will be the fact that their images are available when they attend the clinic.   The current reality is that some x-ray films are lost or missing at the time of consultation.  This can mean patients having to repeat their x-ray or being recalled to the clinic when the x-rays have been found.

With PACS, all current and previous digital images will be available automatically and almost instantly.  

Dr Downie added: “One of the most frustrating things about using conventional x-ray films is the time that is wasted searching for those that have been misplaced or are in use in another part of the hospital.  It is time-consuming for medical and clerical staff.  More importantly, it can delay reaching an accurate diagnosis.  With PACS, we no longer have these problems, but have all our patients’ medical images at the click of a mouse.”