QE Gateshead Health Foundation Trust in the UK has selected BridgeHead Software to implement its Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) for a multi-staged image management project. The trust is actively taking strategic decisions to create a comprehensive electronic patient record (EPR) and is embarking upon a data strategy to help facilitate the EPR, of which the VNA plays a significant part.
Initially, the project commenced with the requirement for QE Gateshead to meet its obligations as it withdraws from the UK National PACS programme), by taking control of all the PACS data currently residing in the LSP Central Data Store (CDS). After serving notice on its existing contract that ends in June 2014, QE Gateshead has a limited time to bring its centrally stored image data back under the Trust’s full control. Utilizing traditional localization methods of standard DICOM Query/Retrieve across N3, the Trust was working to an estimated 10-month timeframe to bring all of the data back from the CDS. However, by working with BridgeHead, the Trust was able to utilize the tape store from its HSM system (put in place as part of the originally specified PACS environment) that contains a copy of all of the Trust’s PACS data archived in the CDS.
As a result, taking control of the image studies, by transferring them into the BridgeHead VNA is estimated to only take at a massively reduced 12 weeks. These timings also include the storing of the latest 12 months of PACS image data, currently stored in the local cache, into the BridgeHead VNA. One of the reasons QE Gateshead selected BridgeHead’s VNA was as a result of its true vendor neutrality – BridgeHead’s VNA has the ability to interface with any PACS applications, regardless of the provider, as well as being able to work with any chosen storage device, irrespective of media or brand.
Bridgehead Software
Ashtead, Surrey, England, UK