East Sussex Hospitals leads tender for archiving and imaging system

East Sussex is procuring the “image and archive solution” in collaboration with four other acute trusts – Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Western Sussex Hospitals Trusts, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and, Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The five trusts have established the Sussex PACS RIS Replacement Programme to oversee the collaborative procurement.

It will cover supply of a radiology information system (RIS), picture archiving and communication system (PACS), vendor neutral archiving (VNA), cardiology imaging system and hosting and provision of domain based systems required for data sharing.

The value of the contract is expected to range between £10m and £20m, according to the tender document, published in the Official Journal of the European Union in November. The initial term of the contract will be 60 months, with the right to extend it for further periods not to exceed 120 months.

The tender document notes: “It is possible that other NHS trusts may wish to join this collaborative procurement, although they will only be able to do so with the approval of the Sussex PACS RIS Replacement Programme Board.”