Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust’s radiology department in the U.K. recently decided to go fully digital.

The Trust, also known as QE Gateshead, is in its final stages of installing three Carestream DRX-Evolution Plus digital X-ray rooms, two DRX-Revolution mobile X-ray systems and a DRX Mobile retrofit kit.

QE Gateshead was founded in 2005 and runs the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Dunston Hill Day Hospital, QE Metro Riverside and Bensham Hospital. There are a total of 3,400 staff members and 580 hospital beds across all facilities.
So far, two of the DRX-Evolution Plus rooms have been installed in the Trust’s main radiology department. One of the DRX-Revolution mobile systems is in the ICU and the other on general wards. The retrofit kit is for the special care baby unit.

“Staff have found the new technology very easy to switch to, and this has been supported by our having the same technology in multiple rooms and as mobile units,” Elaine Dickson, radiology services lead at the Trust, said in a statement. “The new equipment is also ergonomically superior to previous equipment we used, which was another significant reason for choosing it.”

She added that the fully-digital environment is also beneficial for patients. The Trust is now able to provide more timely service to patients and has been able to achieve local key performance indicators by reducing wait times.

In January, Columbus Regional Health in Indiana installed a CARESTREAM DRX-Evolution Plus system in its updated emergency department. More recently, in March, UnityPoint Health in Wisconsin installed two systems for its orthopaedic and general radiology patients.

X-Ray Homepage