GPSJ WINTER 2023 2024 LATEST - Flipbook - Page 22
GPSJ
NHS & HEALTHCARE
Contract for NHS Scotland
diagnostic imaging technology
awarded to Sectra
Radiology teams
and other healthcare
professionals
throughout the NHS
in Scotland are to
benefit from a new
agreement that will
see a cloud-based
enterprise imaging
service delivered
across 15 NHS boards
by international
medical imaging IT
company Sectra.
The agreement with NHS National
Services Scotland (NSS) will provide
tools that will support healthcare
teams as they review and report
on around 5 million radiology
examinations a year, working across
NHS Scotland organisations.
The fully managed software as a
service (SaaS), Sectra One Cloud,
will be used by all of Scotland’s
14 territorial NHS boards and
by NHS Golden Jubilee, which
also hosts the Scottish National
Radiology Reporting Service. NHS
organisations will utilise the radiology,
breast imaging, and orthopaedics
modules available through the
enterprise imaging service.
Sectra will engage with national and
local teams across NHS Scotland
to deliver the new agreement,
which will replace a contract with
Scotland’s current supplier that is
due to end in 2026.
Implementation will involve the
migration of more than 55 million
radiology studies to a single
instance of Sectra’s enterprise
imaging service. Managed through
Sectra One Cloud, the service
will provide ongoing support and
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seamless upgrades for users, local
business continuity within each NHS
board, as well as enabling ease of
scalability for NHS Scotland’s future
requirements.
Mary Morgan, Chief Executive,
NHS National Services Scotland,
said: “Our new partnership with
Sectra will provide Scotland’s NHS
radiology teams with an enterprise
imaging service that will support
our professionals as they deliver
efficient and effective diagnoses
for patients. The service creates
additional potential to support the
direction set out in the new Scotland
Radiology Model and opens up
further possibilities around enhanced
cross-site working.”
All of NHS Scotland’s acute
radiology, orthopaedic and breast
screening services will be covered
by the new contract, which also
creates the potential to extend
support to additional diagnostic
services in the future and allow the
exploration of further technology,
such as the use of Sectra’s platform
to more easily procure and integrate
AI applications into existing radiology
workflows.
Radiologists and reporting
radiographers will benefit from a
single log-in profile, allowing them
to work consistently with personal
configurations from any location.
Clinical teams will continue to benefit
from seamless access to imaging for
their patients from a single national
source, regardless of which board
has carried out imaging acquisition.
Additionally, enhanced collaboration
across clinical specialties will be
supported by having a single
system. For example, information
that can support surgery decisions
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL WINTER 2023/2024
and planning, will be easily accessed
by both the specialist radiologists
and orthopaedic teams.
The contract was signed in
December 2023 for an initial 10 year
term, with two optional extension
periods.
Jane Rendall, UK and Ireland
managing director for Sectra, said:
“The potential for NHS Scotland from
embracing a cloud-based enterprise
imaging system is exciting. This
will create new opportunities for
innovation and for collaboration
between Scotland’s NHS radiology
teams. Scotland’s NHS boards
are known around the world for
delivering excellence in care, and I
look forward to Sectra supporting
their professionals in the years
ahead.”