Turning to page 45 of Hospital Doctor (UK) I was surprised to see the
article on
Digital imaging advances.

"Technological advances have enabled consultants at Guy's and St.Thomas's
Hospital NHS Trust to access, exchange and annotate computerised digital
images and reports over the Internet.Using the pass-worded intranet site,
consultants will be able to access images remotely via their computer.
Software developed by Kodak has allowed the expansion of digital imaging
services to departments throughout the Trust, which, it is hoped, will bring
faster diagnosis for patients and reduce waiting times. Leonie Paskin,
manager of radiology services, said:"This is medical imaging for the 21st
Century".

The story at Lancaster has not been so good with Kodak and Radiology. Our
flirtation with Digital X rays and Kodak goes back to 96/97. Eventually we
had 3 monitors in A&E and one in ITU. Images could be magnified and
manipulated on screen. We had a one week storage of digital images in A&E
and this was very useful when reviewing a patient who came as an unbooked
return. Doctors who missed an X ray diagnosis could view the X ray once the
radiology report was returned - images could be "locked" so that they were
not autodeleted after the week. The digital system helped us to collect an
digital image library for teaching.

But, the Radiology Department never had an archiving system so hard copy
continued to be produced. Also the radiologists never seemed happy with
their reporting stations. So earlier this year the plug was pulled on the
system.

At the end of the day we still have an X ray link with the Minor Injury Unit
at Kendal where Films are scanned in and sent down the line usually for an
orthopaedic opinion. We also have a CD ROM X ray library and some rather
high spec PCs!

I'd be interested in hearing from any other Kodak digital sites.

Lastly I remember our own Radiology Manager being on BBC describing the NEW
SYSTEM as a 21st century technology. He's no longer employed in Radiology.

Regards,

Ray McGlone
A&E department
Lancaster
UK



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