Aspen Healthcare invests over £2 million to upgrade Sectra PACS and RIS software solutions

Aspen Healthcare invests over £2 million to upgrade Sectra PACS and RIS software solutions

Aspen Healthcare is delighted to announce it has invested over £2 million to upgrade its Sectra PACS and RIS software solutions.

The PACS and RIS upgrades will be effective across all Aspen Healthcare hospitals and clinics across the UK (with the exception of Parkside Hospital which uses another software solution).

Speaking about this significant investment, David Williams, Group IT Director said,

“We’re delighted to announce this substantial investment in technology at Aspen Healthcare which demonstrates our continued commitment to excellence. The upgraded Sectra PACS and RIS software will bring about a number of improvements both for consultants and staff working across Aspen Healthcare, and ultimately improve the services we deliver to hundreds of thousands of patients every year.”

Key benefits of the Sectra PACS and RIS software upgrade include:

• Increased stability and reliability – the upgraded PACS and RIS systems will ensure images are readily available for consultants in clinics and in theatres at all times.
• Decreased downtime – the upgraded software will perform, effectively eliminating downtime when images are not available.

• Faster reporting times – consultant radiologists will be able to take advantage of the new post-processing software packages which will assist them in faster reporting e.g. specialist prostate reporting package.
• Remote reporting – the upgraded software will integrated fully with all computer operating systems meaning that consultant radiologists will be able to report from remote locations outside of the hospital regardless of the software platform they are using (our current system is not available to Windows 10).
• Improved efficiencies and environmentally friendly – a key feature of the upgraded Sectra PACs and RIS software is electronic worklists which support a paperless environment and improves patient safety from an information governance perspective.

Project timeline

• The contract was signed in December 2017 and work started mid January 2018 to install new hardware and upgrade the network for the new PACs and RIS platforms.
• We are now in the process of rolling out new PACS and RIS software across the Aspen Healthcare Group, starting with The Holly Private Hospital and Highgate Private Hospital in September and then moving on to the other UK sites.
• Each location will have ‘super users’ on-site to provide training on the new systems and will be providing ongoing support in the future.

What are PACS and RIS systems?
PACS, or picture archiving and communication system, is a medical imaging technology used for storing, retrieving, presenting and sharing images produced by imaging departments including X-ray, CT scan, MRI and ultrasound machines.

A radiology information system (RIS) is a networked software system for managing medical imagery and associated data. A RIS is especially useful for tracking radiology imaging orders and billing information, and is often used in conjunction with PACS and to manage image archives, record-keeping, appointments and reports.