National platform usage grows as 500 images a second are shared

A national image sharing platform hosted by Sectra and used by NHS organisations, patients and others to securely access diagnostic scans and tests has seen record usage across the country. The image exchange portal (IEP) is now being used to share as many as 500 images each second, including x-rays, CT, MR and ultrasound scans.

The system was first introduced into the NHS in 2009 to allow trusts to share images. Greater reliance on the independent sector to help tackle diagnostic backlogs and an increase in patients requesting access to their own images has contributed to a growth in use of the portal, as more images move beyond organisational boundaries. Rising volumes of scans and tests taking place for patients has also fuelled growth in the use of the IEP.

Deployed in every acute hospital trust in England, a growing number of organisations beyond NHS trusts have been using the portal, including stroke networks, organisations delivering new insights into cancer, large private healthcare groups, tele- radiology providers and innovation companies helping to create 3D models for pre-surgery planning.

In total more than 450,000 individuals currently use the IEP. The portal was used to transmit close to 12 million patient imaging studies in 2023, compared to approximately 2.8 million studies back in 2012.

Sectra deputy managing director Chris Scarisbrick said: “The image exchange portal remains globally unique, and is envied as a national tool for sharing diagnostic images for patients.

“Developed for the NHS originally as a means to share radiology imaging between individual hospitals, the role of IEP has changed in line with the needs of a health service now dealing with greater diagnostic demands than ever before.

“As hospitals work hard to tackle a substantial diagnostic backlog, the portal has become an important means to share diagnostic imaging with the independent sector, to help to ensure timely diagnosis for patients. And as more and more ‘ologies’ become digital, it is supporting national access to more than just radiology images.”

Picture: the IEP has become an important means to share diagnostic imaging with the independent sector.

Read this report on page 14 of the January 2025 issue of RAD Magazine.