An image sharing system that is radically changing how clinical images are accessed won 'Digital or Artificial Intelligence Innovation of the Year' at the recent West Midlands Academic Health Science Network Celebration of Innovation Awards.

The West Midlands Regional Image Sharing Platform (RISP) has been developed by a core team at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), working closely with Insignia Medical Systems, who have provided their industry-leading InSight Sharing Service.

RISP allows clinicians to instantly access and retrieve patient images, imaging histories and clinical reports for patients under their care.

The awards ceremony was held at the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre on Friday 13 July 2018, and was attended by around 150 people.

Pankaj Das, RISP Programme Manager at UHB, said: “It was great to see RISP recognised at the Celebration of Innovation Awards.

“Currently, clinicians are ‘blindfolded’ in terms of knowledge about a patient’s imaging history across trusts, and the time-consuming manual process can cause delays when images are needed to support clinical decisions.

“RISP is removing this blindfold, providing any radiological images and reports for a particular patient within minutes.

“RISP is also creating a new infrastructure connecting all the trusts, which will help clinicians as well as improving patient care and clinical outcomes.

“I’d also really like to thank Barnaby Waters, Imaging Technical Lead at UHB, as well as regional teams across the trusts, as RISP wouldn’t be possible without their hard work.”

Richard Dormer, Managing Director of Insignia Medical Systems, added: “We were thrilled to discover that RISP had won at the recent WMAHSN awards.

“Sharing is an area we excel in and it’s great that we have been able to provide this service to so many trusts across the region, thanks to Pankaj, Barnaby and their colleagues.”

The platform was made possible thanks to an investment from NHS England to support the 100,000 Genomes Project.

UHB is the lead organisation for the West Midlands Genomic Medicine Centre (WMGMC), one of 13 GMCs established by NHS England.

The 16 Trusts that comprise the WMGMC will all benefit from RISP, which is currently live across ten trusts.

The WMAHSN awards were established in 2016 and provide an opportunity to celebrate achievements from across the West Midlands.

Dr Chris Parker, WMAHSN Managing Director, said: “We felt that RISP shows a particularly exciting, pan regional approach with benefits for patients and staff by reducing the number of repeat imaging investigations. It is a long overdue solution to an unmet need.

“Congratulations to the RISP team, who should feel rightly proud of their Meridian Celebration of Innovation Award.”

More information about the image sharing system can be found at the RISP website.