- Large multi-hospital contract is latest in a series of recent Universal Clinical Platform wins in the U.K.

LONDON, March 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Acuo Technologies®, a world leader in high-performance software and services for clinical content management and data migration, announced today that it has been awarded the vendor neutral archive (VNA) and data migration contract for the Salisbury, Wight and South Hampshire (SWASH) Domain NHS Trust consortium. Acuo will work with Philips Healthcare and technology partners Sectra and HSS to implement a multi-site, federated VNA, featuring fully-distributed data management with centralized administration, to be shared across the six NHS trusts in the SWASH consortium. This contract follows closely on the heels of large recent Acuo awards in the U.K. that include the national VNA platform for Wales and the regional Sussex and Surrey Consortia group contract.

The SWASH consortium chose Acuo's Universal Clinical Platform VNA via Philips Healthcare, along with the Sectra PACS and HSS radiology information systems to deliver a region-wide medical imaging IT system. The NHS trusts in the consortium include Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trust, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, Solent NHS Trust, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, and University Hospital Southampton. Under the contract, all NHS hospitals and clinics in the SWASH consortium will be connected to the Acuo VNA for long-term clinical content management of both DICOM and non-DICOM content.

The Acuo VNA gives the NHS consortium a new platform for extensive radiology study growth along with the capability to manage data from other clinical departments. Under the contract, Acuo will be responsible for migrating existing clinical image data, including several million patient studies, from the existing trust PACS archives. Once the Acuo VNA system is integrated with Sectra and HSS applications and commissioned for production use, it will manage over a million new studies annually. A key goal of the SWASH solution is to provide seamless transfer of images across the region by July 2013. The Acuo VNA will function as the underlying infrastructure to facilitate immediate viewing of all clinical content captured by the participating trusts. Additionally, the new system will share images with healthcare providers in other areas of the U.K.

In a December 2012 eHealth Insider article by Rebecca Todd, Dr. Mark Griffiths, clinical lead for the SWASH consortium, said: "As a clinically-led consortium, we understand the issues the NHS has with regard to transferring patient information between hospitals. It is our aim to ensure the systems we implement put the patient at the centre of everything we do and maximise utilization of the region's resources to improve our patients' care."

"We are delighted to be chosen as the VNA supplier for this prestigious contract," said Mark O'Herlihy, EMEA Business Manager for Acuo Technologies. "It further validates our investment in the U.K. market and establishes Acuo as the clear VNA market leader with our other recent wins in the region. We look forward to working with our partners to deliver another modern clinical content management solution for the NHS."

About Acuo Technologies

Acuo Technologies, now part of Lexmark's Perceptive Software (NYSE: LXK), was founded in 2000 with the objective of developing the first enterprise-wide collaborative Universal Clinical Platform (UCP) solution for medical image content, both DICOM and Non-DICOM. Today, Acuo supports implementations of UCP around the world, including locations in Africa, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. For more information on providing superior clinical content management and data migration while simplifying operations and reducing costs, visit www.acuotech.com.

DICOM is the registered trademark of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association for its standards publications relating to digital communications of medical information.

About Royal Philips Electronics

Royal Philips Electronics is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2012 sales of EUR 24.8 billion and employs approximately 118,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming, home and portable entertainment and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.

SOURCE Acuo Technologies