A consortium called Salisbury, Wight and South Hampshire Domain NHS Trust (SWASH) was formed in June 2011 to improve radiology patient information flow around the region. Today it has been announced that the consortium has appointed its preferred suppliers.

These suppliers are HSS (Radiology Information System), Sectra (PACS) and Philips (Vendor Neutral Archive, Hosting and Data Sharing).  

Through its preferred suppliers, SWASH are implementing IT systems that interact with each other so data relating to imaging investigations can be seamlessly transferred from one NHS organisation to another within the Portsmouth, Southampton, Hampshire and surrounding areas signed up to the consortium.

“As we are a clinically led consortium, we understand the issues that the NHS has with regards to transferring patient information between hospitals. It is our aim to ensure the systems we implement put the patient at the centre of everything we do and maximise utilization of the regions resources to improve our patients’ care,” said Dr Mark Griffiths, Clinical lead for the SWASH Consortium.

“We are eagerly anticipating working with our preferred suppliers to move this project forward and integrate the radiology services. It is an exciting time for all of us and this will ensure the provision of person-centred services is improved. Our intention is to have all of the services running by July 2013, then we will look to join up with other local services in deploying a sharing environment.”

NHS Trusts involved in the consortium include: Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trust, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, Solent NHS Trust, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. Each trust is represented by clinicians, PACS managers and IT staff to ensure the usability of the systems.