Agfa HealthCare has successfully implemented its DX-D Retrofit direct radiography (DR) upgrade solution at two hospitals; The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust. An Agfa HealthCare customer for over 26 years, The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides healthcare for the residents of Bournemouth, Christchurch, East Dorset and part of the New Forest with a total population of around 550,000, which rises during the summer months. In addition, specialist services cover a wider catchment area, including Poole, Purbeck and South Wiltshire. The Trust carries out 130,000 radiology examinations per year.
Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust is one of only four dedicated children's hospital trusts in the UK and provides integrated healthcare for children and young people, including community and mental health care as well as acute and specialist services. The radiology department is a 24/7 service carrying out over 60,000 radiology examinations per year. The team is made up of 40 people, nine of which are Consultant Radiologists.
MUSICA image quality and better patient care
DX-D Retrofit is a cost effective solution for an easy upgrade of CR-based modalities to DR. The NX workstation interface shares the same look and feel as Agfa HealthCare's computed radiography (CR) solutions, and offers fast previews, low cycle times and excellent integration with radiology information systems (RIS), picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) and other hospital-wide information systems. The system is standard equipped with MUSICA, Agfa HealthCare's gold standard image processing software that improves workflow and reduces waiting and examination time to provide better patient care.
Higher patient throughput, increased flexibility
James Knowles, Superintendent Radiographer comments: "At the Royal Bournemouth Hospital Agfa HealthCare's DX-D Retrofit is used in a general purpose x-ray room and we have seen the immediate benefits of increased patient throughput while retaining high image quality, two key decision factors during purchase. As well as time saving, our staff also found the system very intuitive as they were already familiar with the Agfa HealthCare's NX workstations, so additional training was kept to a minimum. Because it is wireless, the DX-D Retrofit also offers enhanced flexibility which is a huge benefit in busy radiology department."
Demographic data is automatically fed to the NX workstation from the PACS, and acquired images are transmitted directly onto the detector, streamlining workflow and speed of exams. Within seconds after the acquisition, radiographers can pre-check the image, approve the technical quality, and transmit it wirelessly to the PACS. The detector fits into any standard bucky tray, and can be used in multiple X-ray modalities, meaning it can be shared among several rooms or modalities as needed, maximising efficiency and keeping costs low.
DX-D 100: swift turnaround times and MUSICA image quality
In additional to implementing the DX-D Retrofit, Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust also purchased Agfa HealthCare 's DX-D 100 DR mobile X-ray unit which allows instant high-quality image capture on the ward that can be seen immediately on the Agfa PACS system. Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust is a designated paediatric trauma centre, so it is important that DR is available in A&E to support the emergency clinician. This was a key part of the business case to purchase the DX-D 100.
The Trust has specific paediatric requirements but the flexibility, speed and MUSICA image quality of both the DX-D Retrofit and DR mobile means that the solutions are perfectly suited for a busy children's hospital.
Chris Heafey, Deputy Superintendent Radiographer at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust comments: 'We are extremely pleased with the DX-D Retrofit room install and DR mobile unit. We chose both units based on their high image quality, flexibility and ease of use and the results have surpassed our expectations. The radiographers across the department are very impressed with the DX-D Retrofit's image quality and how easy to use the DR mobile is. It is also easy to swap the detector in and out of the retrofit room and staff are already used to working with the NX operating system which meant that the new equipment was easily adopted with minimal training."
"We are delighted to see our products continuing to support the Royal Bournemouth and Sheffield Children's hospitals with cost effective solutions that meet their evolving and specific needs," says Grant Witheridge, General Manager of Agfa HealthCare UK. "DX-D Retrofit is a key element in our continuing focus in offering a complete solutions portfolio for both CR and DR that does not compromise on either image quality or productivity. The implementation across two very different Trusts is a great example of how flexible our solutions are and demonstrates our commitment to maintain a long-term and evolutionary relationship with our customers, working in partnership, with the common goal of constantly improving the delivery of patient care."
- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Asklepios
The Asklepios Kliniken GmbH Group is one of the leading private operators of hospital and healthcare facilities in Germany. The Group pursues a responsible and sustainable growth strategy geared towards high quality and innovation. On the basis of this, Asklepios has developed dynamically since it was founded more than 25 years ago. The Group currently has over 140 healthcare facilities throughout Germany and employs more than 45,000 people. Around 2.0 million patients were treated in Asklepios Group facilities in the 2012 financial year.
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,091 million euro in 2012.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. The company has nearly a century of healthcare experience and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Today Agfa HealthCare designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results. The company has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2012 were 1,212 million euro.