Written question asked by Lord Allan of Hallam on Monday, 31 January 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 9 February 2005. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Wednesday, 9 February 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospital trusts in each cluster area have been supplied with picture archiving and communications systems. - Includes no figures.

Answer: Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital trusts in each cluster area have been supplied with picture archiving and communications systems. [213455] Mr. Hutton: Picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) are a tried and valuable technology, which is already in use across the national health service. The PACS solution to be provided as a core service from September 2004 under the national programme for information technology is available to all NHS trusts in England. A number of orders have been placed to commence implementation work under the new contracts but no implementations are yet complete. The timescales for implementation vary in each cluster area according to the requirements and state of readiness of each trust.

Secondary information