GPSJ Autumn 2024 ONLINE - Flipbook - Page 34
GPSJ
NHS & HEALTHCARE
500 patient images per second
shared through national portal
as NHS tackles backlogs
A national image sharing platform, used by NHS organisations, patients and others to securely access
diagnostic scans and tests, has seen record usage across the country.
The image exchange portal,
widely known in the NHS as the
IEP, is now being used to share
as many as 500 images each
second – including x-rays, CT,
MRI, ultrasound scans and more.
The system was 昀椀rst
introduced into the NHS in 2009,
to allow trusts to share images
with each other. Greater reliance
on the independent sector to help
to tackle diagnostic backlogs,
and an increase in patients
requesting access to their own
images, have contributed to
a growth in use of the portal,
as more images move beyond
organisational boundaries.
Rising volumes of scans and
tests taking place for patients has
also fuelled growth in the use of
the IEP.
Deployed in every acute
hospital trust in England, a
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growing number of organisations
beyond NHS trusts have been
using the portal – including
stroke networks, organisations
delivering new insights into
cancer, large private healthcare
groups, teleradiology reporting
providers, and innovative
companies helping to create 3D
models for pre surgery planning.
In total more than 450,000
individuals currently use the IEP.
The portal was used to transmit
close to 12 million patient imaging
studies in 2023, compared to
approximately 2.8 million studies
back in 2012.
Chris Scarisbrick, deputy
managing director for Sectra,
the company which hosts the
IEP, said: “The image exchange
portal remains globally unique,
and is envied as a national tool
for sharing diagnostic images for
patients.
“Developed for the NHS
originally as a means to share
radiology imaging between
individual hospitals, the role of
IEP has changed in line with the
needs of a health service now
dealing with greater diagnostic
demands than ever before.
“As hospitals work hard to
tackle a substantial diagnostic
backlog, the portal has become
an important means to share
diagnostic imaging with the
independent sector, to help
to ensure timely diagnosis for
patients. And as more and more
‘ologies’ become digital, it is
supporting national access to
more than just radiology images.”
Steven Frisby, IEP national
account manager at Sectra,
added: “Use of the image
exchange portal continues to
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL AUTUMN
2017
WINTER 2024/2025
expand in ways that couldn’t have
been envisioned 15 years ago
when it was 昀椀rst introduced into
the NHS.
“Patients are increasingly
demanding access to their own
imaging. And as medical frontiers
expand, and technological
capabilities in healthcare
continue to evolve, the ability
to access imaging through a
secure platform, and in ways that
protect patient data, is ever more
important.
“Now, as the NHS seeks new
ways to share images nationally,
we welcome conversations on
how this national platform can
continue to evolve as we ensure
it receives the investment needed
to meet the needs of healthcare
into the future.”
