Fujitsu Services seals £220m deal with NHS

Fujitsu Services has won a £220m contract to provide a digital archival system for the NHS in the south of England.

Called a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), it stores medical scans, such as X-rays, in digital format, reducing the cost of storing and developing film.

The images will be accessible to NHS staff via web technology, a feature that is expected to make calling up and transporting this patient information quick and easy.

The system will affect some 13 millions patients and 256,000 NHS staff and is part of a programme to be rolled out nationwide.

Fujitsu says PACS will be in use across the southern region within three years and it will provide support for the system until 2013.

The NHS made a previous agreement with the IT services company in January 2004 to set up the National Programme for IT in southern England.