Agfa Gevaert : Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust choose Agfa HealthCare’s Enterprise Imaging platform to solve imaging challenges across the hospital.

- The new Enterprise Imaging platform will create a single database for images and data from radiology and cardiology. - Sophisticated imaging informatics solution refines clinical productivity and optimizes total cost of ownership. - The partnership also covers, National Breast Screening PACS integration and Enterprise Imaging XERO viewer* integration into the Trust's Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system. - Includes Enterprise Image VNA storage creating a single platform for healthcare professionals across the Trust to create, collaborate, exchange, and manage all imaging data

Agfa HealthCare announces today that it has signed an agreement with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to implement its new Enterprise Imaging for Radiology Suite, formerly known as Agility, and make the Trust a UK reference site. The contract was signed in December 2014, with deployment of the new suite beginning in February 2015.

Trust offers general and specialized services
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust located in South Yorkshire, England manages five NHS hospitals across Sheffield: Northern General, Royal Hallamshire, Jessop Wing, Weston Park and Charles Clifford Dental hospitals as well as community health services for the city of Sheffield. The Trust provides a full range of NHS treatments caring for more than 2 million patients a year.

The Trust also works very closely with the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University to ensure that it remains on the cutting edge of medical research and development, and continues to develop new and specialist patient services.

Solutions that meet needs of UK healthcare system
The agreement with Agfa HealthCare will see the Trust become the first site in the UK to implement the Enterprise Imaging platform. This unified diagnostic imaging platform, which offers a powerful task-based workflow designed to achieve gains in clinical productivity, is already live at over 100 sites around the world, including South America, North America, Africa, Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Its implementation will give the Trust a single database for images and data from radiology and cardiology reducing complexity and total cost of ownership, whilst increasing consistency and decreasing report turnaround time.

In addition, the Trust will become a UK reference site for the new Agfa HealthCare imaging portfolio. The Trust and Agfa HealthCare will work together to ensure the solution stays at the leading edge, meeting NHS requirements both now, and in the future. The partnership also covers the integration of the National Breast Screening PACS integration and the Enterprise Imaging XERO viewer integration into the Trust's new EPR.

The agreement also includes an Enterprise Image VNA for multi-departmental, multi-facility and multi-vendor consolidated storage in one central clinical data foundation. This will create a single converged platform for healthcare professionals across the Trust to create, collaborate, exchange, and manage all imaging data.

Building on 15-year relationship
"The traditional boundaries around imaging informatics are fundamentally changing and we need a flexible solution that aligns to the Trust's future requirements offering integration, image sharing, mobility and improved productivity, whilst remaining cost effective. Deploying Agfa HealthCare's Enterprise Imaging Radiology Suite will help support our vision to remain at the cutting edge of healthcare, so we can offer the highest level of care to our patients." says Martin Peacock, Radiology Manager, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

"Having worked with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals for some 15 years, we have developed not only a good understanding of its environment and requirements, but an excellent relationship as well," says Grant Witheridge, General Manager of Agfa HealthCare UK. "With its commitment to cutting-edge healthcare, it is an ideal partner for both the first deployment of our Enterprise Imaging solutions in the country, and as a reference site."

Tracey Morris, Key Account Manager, Agfa HealthCare UK adds: "These are exciting developments for Agfa HealthCare and the imaging market in the UK and Ireland as we start to deliver our next-generation imaging platforms to both existing and new customers. This will be the first in a series of announcements on how our modern IT platforms are improving clinical productivity, collaboration and image sharing whilst facilitating quality outcomes."

* Not all applications are available in the US and Canada. Contact Agfa for more details

distributed by