Patient care is being improved in hospitals by means of clinical data such as X-rays being easily available in digital format, writes Ciara O’Brien

TWO IRISH hospitals have implemented a new IT system designed to increase efficiency of healthcare provision, cutting bed occupancy time and improving hospital management.

The integrated Radiology Information and Picture Archiving and Communication system (Ris/Pacs), which has built-in voice recognition technology, has just been rolled out at Tullamore and Mullingar hospitals.

The single enterprise-wide IT solution, which was implemented by Carestream Health, is designed to speed up patient care by making important clinical information such as X-rays available throughout the hospital quickly and easily.

The latest project is further proof that Irish medical professionals are open to new technology to help improve the healthcare system.

Carestream Health, which specialises in medical and dental imaging and has more than 100 years of experience in the healthcare industry, is predicting significant growth within the Irish market in the coming years.

Mike Jackman, president of global services with Carestream Health, says there are still hospitals that have not yet made the move to digital systems.

“We still see a lot of growth here,” he says. “The market is a growing one.”

Implementing a Ris/Pacs system involves investment at the outset, but Carestream claims the cost savings as a result can make the system an extremely attractive prospect to health bosses.

“Ireland has an opportunity to look at where it’s done before and do it on a national scale,” says Wayne Sharpe, senior account manager, medical sales Britain and Ireland.

“It’s one of those businesses that once you have actually got Pacs, you can build on it much easier. It’s that first step that’s difficult to do, and you need a company that’s done it before.”

Carestream Health does business in 160 countries and has revenues of about $2.4 billion (€1.7 billion) a year. It employs more than 8,000 people around the world in sales, service, research and development, and product planning.

Despite the recent economic conditions and toughening public spending in Ireland, the company is not foreseeing any significant challenges with persuading healthcare authorities that the products are what they need to invest in to deliver significant operational cost savings.

“I don’t view it as a problem,” says Jackman. “The way I look at it, the Pacs and Ris technology is aimed at taking costs out of the system. You can reduce your film spend because the images are digital and you store them digitally, so that is some of the cost savings that comes from deploying a healthcare IT project.

“The bigger savings are in workflow, reducing the steps that it takes to do the work. So you have more patients and procedures using the same resources, so you gain tremendous efficiency and you have fewer people waiting.”

The new IT solutions can also allow for remote access, freeing up healthcare workers to work from home once the necessary infrastructure is in place. However, the flexibility of the solutions raises its own set of challenges, including data security – a topic that has featured prominently in recent headlines. Carestream advises on security and can implement various controls on access to sensitive patient data.

Carestream is also planning to launch digital radiography products in Ireland, which will create a digital image in seconds – faster than the current computer radiography systems.