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PACS bulletin

Issue 25
June 2015

Overall

This summer is poignant for the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s PACS team as they head towards the closure of the London programme in July and the countdown for the final twelve months begins for the North East, Yorkshire and Humber and East of England and East Midlands (NEEEM).

The PACS team are committed to supporting all the remaining trusts and if you need to make contact, all communication channels are still open including pacs.query@hscic.gov.uk

London approaching the finishing line

There’s less than two months to go until the London PACS programme closes on 31 July 2015 with the remaining eight trusts on target.

Throughout June there are four go-lives planned with the remaining four scheduled for July.

There are two trusts still localising data which are expected to be complete by the end of June.

99.56% of all data has been localised from MIA (with only 2.53tb left). MIA holds approximately 1.3pb over two data centres and 2.4 billion images.

NEEEM progress

With approximately 12 months to go for the NHS trusts in NEEEM to exit, over half of the trusts in the territory have localised their data and completed their exit. The remaining trusts (all but one) have contracts in place for their new solutions and excellent progress is being made with data localisation.

This has helped the HSCIC’s PACS team to support the NHS trusts’ plans and schedules and given a measure of contingency for one or two technical elements, which have proven more complex than originally expected. The team have experienced particular challenges with the use of Vendor Neutral Archives (VNAs) - a valuable technology undoubtedly, but one which demands a good level of understanding and active management during deployment. The PACS team have also worked with the Local Service Provider (LSP) to localise data using a Portable Storage Device (PSD), as opposed to moving data across N3, providing increased speed and flexibility for the NHS trusts concerned. This too has presented specific challenges, which are being worked through.

The HSCIC, the trusts and suppliers, continue to learn valuable lessons which are being sharing with NHS colleagues through our regional exit boards and the HSCIC website.

Social media

Please note that the PACS twitter account is closing down over the coming weeks and followers are advised to follow @hscic instead for updates on the PACS programme.

Keep in touch

Safe and timely exits depend on co-operation between different parties – please keep in touch with us and the regional exit boards. Help us to help you.

Up-coming regional exit boards:

  • East of England and East Midlands: 2nd September
  • National Board Meeting London: 17th September