Mortsel, Belgium - 26 September 2017 - 14:00 CET (RSNA 2017, Booth #3300, South Hall A) Agfa HealthCare announces today that it has signed a new contract, including a ten-year managed services agreement, with Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust, to implement the Enterprise Imaging for Radiology platform. The solution has been sized to support around 60,000 studies each year, with an average annual growth of 10%.

Dose monitoring and "anywhere, anytime" images

The 200-bed Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust is one of only four dedicated children's hospital trusts in the UK. From its site in the center of Sheffield, it provides integrated healthcare, including acute and specialist services and mental health care, for children and young people from South Yorkshire, UK, and further afield.

The hospital is a long-term Agfa HealthCare customer for imaging management, direct radiography (DR) and computed radiography (CR).

Following a detailed options appraisal, the trust decided to implement the Enterprise Imaging for Radiology platform, with a ten-year managed services agreement, utilizing the NHS Supply Chain framework, and a technical refresh after five years. The Enterprise Imaging solution will be integrated into the Trust's patient assistance support (PAS) and results distribution platforms.

The contract for Sheffield Children's Hospital also includes:

The Dose Monitoring solution, which collects patient radiation dose and metadata information, and uses this to provide dose analyses at the study, patient, device, modality or institution level

The web-based XERO universal image viewer, which provides secure access to reports and images, outside the conventional boundaries of the healthcare enterprise, to GPs and other referrers. In 2017, KLAS recognized the XERO Viewer with its top award in the Universal Image Viewer category

Scheduling, which will support booking of radiology procedures and appointments, in one quick and easy-to-use application. The scope of the scheduling functionality will be extended in the future.

Business Intelligence (BI), which enables the Trust to access all information in the unified platform, in order to create standard and custom reports for governance and for local decision-making on best working practices


At the radiologist's fingertips

The Enterprise Imaging-driven workflow brings advanced clinical applications and reporting tools to the radiologist's desktop, helping improve efficiency, productivity and optimize patient care. Sixteen new diagnostic workstations with speech microphones and integrated voice recognition are included in the contract, and will be used by around thirty reporting staff, including consultant radiologists, registrars, reporting radiographers and sonographers.

"Implementing Enterprise Imaging for Radiology will enable us to maximize our range of Agfa HealthCare solutions throughout the Trust," comments Sara Elliott, Interim Associate Director Pharmacy, Diagnostics and Genetics for Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust. "Components such as dose management and the XERO viewer will support us in meeting the needs of our pediatric patients and of our care provider community, both within and outside our hospital walls."

"The Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust chose to extend its relationship with Agfa HealthCare, and to implement the Enterprise Imaging for Radiology platform, after a thorough review of potential cost and efficiency savings," says Grant Witheridge, Managing Director UK & Eire, Agfa HealthCare. "This decision thus demonstrates the ability of our solutions to meet the diverse needs of hospitals facing today's healthcare and management challenges."

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