Four years ago one of the leading paediatric hospitals in London began a journey to change their PACS system. After a thorough procurement process, they successfully migrated from their previous PACS vendor to a new one thanks to support from Merge VNA.
This London paediatric specialist site required a solution that could streamline migration, ensure data integrity, and maintain uninterrupted clinical access throughout the transition. This solution also needed to be able to provide long-term scalable interoperability, as hospitals across the National Health Service (NHS) expand their EPR systems in line with the government’s new 10-year digitalisation plan. That plan, first unveiled in July, called for a major modernization overhaul of the NHS, with a primary focus on:
Just as the NHS was calling for a countrywide digital revamp in its approach to healthcare, the paediatric hospital needed a solution that would provide a revamp of its own and put them in a position to be in alignment with the NHS’ goals.
To support these goals, the hospital had already chosen Merge’s vendor neutral archive solution, Merge VNA, to provide true vendor neutrality and the freedom they need to select the PACS solution that bests fit their clinical and IT functionality needs.
As a founding contributor to the DICOM standard, Merge is well positioned to support both DICOM and non-DICOM data streams, enabling secure two-way medical data flow and a base of futureproofed support for imaging data management strategies deployed across the NHS.
Like many Merge VNA users, this London hospital deployed our vendor neutral archive in a Twin Peer configuration across two separate data center facilities. This setup provides system uptime levels that are impractical in a single data center, ensuring continuous operation during software patching and native disaster recovery.
What makes the Merge VNA unique is that it does not rely on storage or database replication. Instead, everything is handled at the application level, with two completely independent storage systems and two completely independent databases. This prevents storage or database corruption on one side from being replicated to the other, safeguarding data integrity. To this end, Merge has also partnered with SCC, one of the UK’s largest IT systems providers, to build a fully managed cloud-based service that will support this children’s hospital on its digital transformation journey.
Another key capability of Merge VNA is its morphing of DICOM metadata. This feature goes beyond simple storage by carefully validating and cleansing information before it is accepted into the archive, whilst quietly retaining original metadata for later retrieval. Only once data is verified and standardised is it added to the Long-Term Archive. This ensures that the VNA remains a trusted source of high-quality, interoperable data that can be seamlessly shared across clinical systems and departments.
A secure EPR, underpinned by a VNA solution, ensures that all patient data sources flow seamlessly into a single, accessible record. Merge VNA empowers care teams at hospitals to securely and quickly collaborate across disciplines, allowing them to better align with the NHS modernization plan and deliver more proactive patient care.
With Merge VNA, this world-renowned London children’s hospital achieved a secure and seamless migration to their new PACS vendor without bulk data transfer – all while protecting the integrity of its medical images and maintaining uninterrupted clinical operations. Today, the hospital benefits from a future-ready imaging infrastructure that supports NHS digitalisation goals, enables continuous uptime, and ensures clean, validated data across all modalities.