The national PACS programme, along with colleagues from the Department of Health and supplier Burnbank Health Systems, has been recognised at the eHealth Insider Awards 2010. The team picked up an award for 'Innovation in Healthcare Interoperability' for the work done to introduce the Image Exchange Portal (IEP).

IEP is a web-based solution which enables x-rays and other digital images to be transferred between NHS organisations and independent sector healthcare providers. The system has already been adopted by 80 per cent of NHS trusts across England and, to date, it has been used to transfer more than 100,000 studies, containing almost 19 million images.

IEP was developed with a great deal of NHS input and it has been readily embraced by both trusts and independent sector healthcare providers. It's a pragmatic and cost-effective solution which meets many of the requirements clinicians have for being able to transfer images and reports quickly and securely between organisations. In addition, it's enabling trusts to work more efficiently and reduce the reliance on costly transfers of information via CD.

PACS Medical Director Erika Denton says: "The clinical need to share patients’ diagnostic information across the NHS is great and IEP has significantly improved our ability to achieve that goal and improve patient care."

The eHealth Insider award is just one of many awards and nominations awarded to the national PACS programme in recent years.

Update: 'X-ray vision' - eHealth Insider talks to some of the team behind the Image Exchange Portal (11/5/11).