GENEVA, November 25—Carestream Health announced an order for nine KODAK DIRECTVIEW DR 7500 Dual Detector Systems from University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust in England. The DR systems will be installed in the City of Birmingham’s first new acute hospital for 70 years, which is scheduled to open in 2010.
Carestream Health won the contract following a lengthy evaluation process, which included three other industry players. The equipment was purchased through the NHS Supply Chain using the Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Equipment Framework Agreement. NHS Supply Chain led the procurement process with the UHB procurement team.
“Carestream Health’s consultative approach and commitment to the project, in the face of genuine, tough competition for this business was conducted in a professional, pro active and responsive manner,” said Paul Brettle, Manager for the Trust’s Imaging X-ray Group. “This, combined with the excellent design features of the equipment, led to them being selected as the supplier of choice.”
The new hospital, which replaces the existing Selly Oak Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, will generate in the region of 140,000 annual DR imaging studies from the nine KODAK DIRECTVIEW DR 7500 Systems, with three installed in each of Accident & Emergency (A&E), Outpatient and Inpatient departments. The new hospital will utilise the latest in technology across all modalities, offering the ability to significantly improve access and examination turnaround times for patients.
The DR 7500 System offers a unique wall stand capable of six-axis movement to capture upright, horizontal and cross-table projections and according to Paul Brettle, this functionality was a key feature leading to the selection of Carestream Health as a supplier for DR. “There are clear patient benefits in being able to extend the vertical bucky for wheelchair and trolley bound patients and this is a unique feature compared to other suppliers.”
Paul Brettle added: “Our radiographer team who took part in the evaluation felt that the Carestream Health product was extremely flexible in its design and seemed to have taken onboard the design features that radiographers would welcome from a very practical, operational perspective.”
Carestream Health offers one of the broadest DR product lines in the industry, including the KODAK DIRECTVIEW DR 3500, DR 9500 and DR 7500 Systems and the CARESTREAM DRX-1 System, currently a work in progress.
“Customers are choosing digital products from Carestream Health to improve both the quality and cost of patient care,” said Anton Graule, Regional Business Manager, Digital Capture Solutions, Europe North. “The new University Hospital Birmingham will be built to the very latest healthcare standards and the order for nine DR systems clearly demonstrates that our innovative solutions meet the application, workflow and budget requirements of this state-of-the-art healthcare institution.”
Carestream Health, an independent company, has licensed the KODAK brand for use with its own brands—such as CARESTREAM, DIRECTVIEW and DRYVIEW—across its portfolio of leading-edge medical imaging and healthcare IT products.
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About University Hospital Birmingham
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust runs two hospitals – Selly Oak Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, both in Birmingham. It offers a bigger range of clinical services than any other hospital in the UK. It is a tertiary centre for trauma, burns, plastics, cardiology, solid organ transplant and cancer. The new hospital is the biggest single site hospital development in the UK. It is being built at a cost of £545 million under the Government’s Private Finance Initiative and will have 1,213 beds. For more information: www.uhb.nhs.uk
About Carestream Health, Inc.
Carestream Health, Inc., is a leading provider of dental and medical imaging systems and healthcare IT solutions; molecular imaging systems for the life science research and drug discovery/development market segments; and x-ray film and digital x-ray products for the non-destructive testing market. The company was formed in 2007 when Onex Corporation (TSX: OCX.TO) purchased Eastman Kodak Company’s Health Group. For more information about Carestream Health, contact your Carestream Health representative or visit www.carestreamhealth.com.
CARESTREAM is a trademark of Carestream Health, Inc.
KODAK is a trademark of Kodak used under license.
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