Imaging in Victoria exists in multiple silos, between public and private and also between each institution. Imaging within institutions but between campuses are shared within the  Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), which makes accessing imaging, transfer of care and the provision of care within these institutions much easier for clinicians and for patients.

This page exists to help the clinician with not only accessing these external images, but also transferring these images into our institutional PACS to ensure more streamlined, accountable and targeted care for our patients.

Accessing external imaging completes the patient medicolegal records, allows a longitudinal review of the patient's full medical history, reduces radiation exposure from repeat imaging and allows clinicians to make more informed decisions based on the complete spectrum of images available.

Understanding Imaging Sharing

The page explains how imaging is stored and used. It provides a broad overview to external imaging so that the clinician can understand what they are requesting and how to search for it when they are looking for external imaging.

Guide to Imaging Viewers

There are multiple different Imaging Viewers (DICOM Viewer) used by the different imaging providers. Whilst from a end user (non-radiologist) perspective the imaging viewers are of diagnostic quality, the experience varies depending on what system you use the open the Imaging Viewer. Furthermore, there's a variation in whether or not the Viewer is an application based Viewer (installed on the computer), web-browser based Viewer or both. Some Imaging Viewers also have mobile applications and the web-browser based Viewer can be viewed on a mobile device however the performance and user experience can vary widely.

Repository of Imaging Sites

This is a repository of common external medical imaging providers near Western Health, Victoria. It has been compiled over a number of years and represents a large chunk of the imaging providers that patients who present to Western Health. There are common themes between providers often linked to which Imaging Viewer they use and your capability of accessing the imaging "easily", but each provider is unique. This is a extensive list of providers, but is by no means exhaustive particularly with new providers opening to serve the growing population out West. 

Guide to Transferring Imaging