Three Essex trusts migrate 150TB+ data to joint image system

Three Essex trusts have migrated over 150 terabytes of historical data to a new joint imaging system. 

Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals Foundation Trust, Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust and Southend University Hospital Foundation Trust went live with Insignia Medical Systems’ picture and archiving communications system (PACS).

The go-live was accompanied by the migration of 639 million images, 155TB worth of data, from all three trusts in a process which took at least five months.

Martin Callingham, chief information officer at all three trusts, said the technology provides “a seamless service benefiting patients and staff” across mid and south Essex.

The service will allow the entire regional imaging patient record to be automatically presented to end users within their own PACS system, including the reports from the three different RIS systems, the supplier said.

The go-lives happened from March to June this year – Mid-Essex, 27 March; Southend, 8 May; Basildon, 12 June. Post go-live, any data not yet migrated was available on demand so users still had full access to patient imaging records, a supplier spokeswoman said.

The three trusts signed the contract in February.

Keiran Donovan, IT projects and transition manager at Southend, said the “deployment team have been incredibly supportive throughout the entire PACS replacement process”.

Richard Dormer, managing director at Insignia, said the company was delighted to have been chosen for the PACS project, which is named ‘Essex Success Regime’.

“We always strive to stay at the forefront of technology, offering market leading solutions to our customers to enhance their ability to improve patient care across not only their own Trust but across their region and beyond.”

Basildon and Thurrock, Mid Essex and Southend were both previously using Agfa’s Impax for their PACS, according to Digital Health Intelligence.

Insignia has previously completed large migrations before. In August 2016, one of the largest data migrations in the UK has been successfully undertaken at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as part of a move to a new digital imaging system.

More than 100 terabytes of historical data was transferred by the supplier, ahead of the go-live with the company’s InSight PACS.

England rolled out digital imaging to all trusts as part of the National Programme for IT in the NHS. The national PACS contracts came to an end from 2013 onwards, but in many trusts have chosen to stick with their NPfIT providers, at least initially.

Insignia, based in Basingstoke, has been particularly successful at persuading trusts to change provider in the south west, where a number of trusts grouped together to buy new systems, with a focus on improving image sharing.