3 May 2024
NIPACS+ (Northern Ireland Picture Archive and Communication System) became a single integrated enterprise imaging solution for HSCNI on the weekend of Saturday 20th April 2024 with the successful go-live at Royal Victoria Hospital. The Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) is the final site for Phase 1 of the NIPACS+ Programme, meaning all Radiology and Digital Pathology services throughout the region have a single point of access to imaging.
Imaging Services are vital in the provision of modern healthcare in Northern Ireland and this fantastic achievement has been delivered through significant planning, collaboration, support and coordination with a wide range of stakeholders. NIPACS+ will support the creation of regional networks of care and will help to transform diagnostic services, as healthcare professionals’ benefit from a single point of access to medical imaging. Key activities that have gone into achieving NIPACS+ regionally included a regional Data Centre technical refresh of legacy NIPACS infrastructure, Data Migration from Belfast City Hospital (BCH) and RVH legacy systems, Testing, Training and Workstation Deployment.
The concerted effort by the Belfast Health & Social Care Trust (BHSCT) PACS team, Business Services Organisation ITS Operations, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust IT department, Sectra, Philips and Magentus that have allowed the NIPACS+ Programme to achieve such a seamless go-live cannot be understated. No major transformational piece of work can be achieved in isolation and this is no exception. The Programme would like to extend a huge thank you to all involved.
“I am delighted that NIPACS+ is now fully live across the Region as it will bring many benefits to both service users and patients across Northern Ireland. This includes enabling wider HSCNI modernisation and improving services by providing a system that can respond to changing clinical requirements and technological developments, e.g., the implementation of AI and a Research Database. I have been genuinely impressed by everyone’s enthusiasm and dedication and would like to personally thank all involved in making this final cutover and go-live at RVH a success.”
~ Joanne Allison, Programme Manager NIPACS+
[Pictures: Personnel from the NIPACS+ Programme, BHSCT PACS Team, RVH Imaging personnel and Sectra Ltd – commemorating a very successful go live of NIPACS+ within the Royal Victoria Hospital.]
