PATIENTS in Bromley are the first in Europe to benefit from a £1m digital x-ray system installed in all the borough's hospitals.
The Picture, Archiving and Communication System (PACS) allows doctors in Bromley, Beckenham, Orpington and Farnborough hospitals to view x-rays at the touch of a button instead of having to post them.
Because an x-ray taken in one hospital can be seen by staff in the other three hospitals straight away, it will also save patients having to be moved between different places.
Although other hospitals, such as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, have a PACS system, the new set-up at Bromley is the first "multi-site" system in Europe.
Speaking at the official handover of the system by Laser Lines, to Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust, radiology clinical director Dr Drusilla Pearce said it will "revolutionise" the way x-rays are taken.
Dr Pearce said: "I want to thank the hospital for having the vision to install this system. It means we will be able to move into the new Farnborough Hospital without any films."
And Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust chairman Selwyn Ward joked: "This system will bring our hospital into the 21st century and it should mean an end to lost x-rays."
November 22, 2001 14:28
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