Foundation trust ‘checking and updating’ x-rays after data issue uncovered

A foundation trust has said it is ‘checking and updating’ the records for 5,000 x-rays after uncovering a longstanding data issue.

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, which processes almost 700,000 examinations a year, is investigating the incident after it was discovered during a routine check.

The trust uses two recording systems for x-rays; one for the image (its picture archiving and communication system – PACS) and one for the patient (its radiology information system – RIS).

However during a check, it was discovered that some x-rays were only present on PACS and had no corresponding entry in the RIS.

GE Healthcare has been supplying PACS and RIS services to East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust since 2013. However, Digital Health News understands that the issues are related to the previous contract arranged under the National Programme for IT in the NHS, when the trust’s RIS was provided by HSS.

Julie Barton, interim divisional director for clinical services support division at the trust, said: “When routinely monitoring our systems, 5,000 records show that patient information is included with the image, rather than being recorded on two separate systems.

“Many of these are historical records that date back to 2007.

“We are now checking and updating these records to make sure information is recorded consistently across our systems.”