Siemens chosen for eye screening in Scotland

NHS Scotland has signed a deal with Siemens Medical Solutions to supply the screening module of its Soarian web-based electronic patient record system for diabetic retinopathy screening.

Siemens will be supplying the web-based architecture to store and transfer images and patient records, and NHS Scotland will be responsible for setting up the infrastructure.

"The project in Scotland is to involve every diagnosed diabetic in an annual screening," Paul Burdett, NHS IT account manager at Siemens Medical Solutions told E-Health Insider. "By screening them, they can then find early signs of the disease and treat them before it causes blindness."

Diabetic retinopathy, a progressive deterioration of the blood vessels in the retina that causes blurring of vision and eventually blindness, has been identified by NHS Scotland as the biggest single cause of sight loss in the country. Diabetes is also increasing. "At the moment there are about 2.2% of people diagnosed with diabetes. Some say it will grow to six percent in five years," said Burdett.

The contract was signed last month, and according to Burdett the implementation is currently in the planning stages. It will be piloted before being rolled out to an initial 150 sites across Scotland. Similar software is supplied by Siemens to parts of the English Diabetic Retinopathy service. "NHS Scotland will be rolling it out once a pilot phase is completed," confirmed Burdett.

NHS Scotland will be introducing new posts of ‘graders’ who will view each retinal scan on the web-based interface and pass it on to an ophthalmologist should there be any cause for concern. The scans will be kept on the patient record for future annual comparisons.

According to Burdett, one of the strengths of the Soarian system is that it is web-based and therefore no software other than a standard browser is needed to view and update the records.

Siemens is hoping to increase the use of its screening module in other areas of medicine in Scotland and the rest of the UK. One particular focus is oncology. "We would be very keen to work in that area," said Burdett.