# What is the advantage of this over procuring a national PACS for England, as has been done in Scotland and Wales?

**URL:** <https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/what-is-the-advantage-of-this-over-procuring-a-national-pacs-for-england-as-has-been-done-in-scotland-and-wales/14615>\
**Category:** Scope & Vision FAQs\
**Created:** [21 August 2026 07:06 UTC](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/what-is-the-advantage-of-this-over-procuring-a-national-pacs-for-england-as-has-been-done-in-scotland-and-wales/14615 "2026-08-21T07:06:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cherie\_Norton](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/nhsdigitaldeveloper/user_avatar/developer.community.nhs.uk/cherie_norton/32/1144_2.png) [@Cherie\_Norton](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/u/Cherie_Norton)\
**Post date:** [21 August 2026 07:06 UTC](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/what-is-the-advantage-of-this-over-procuring-a-national-pacs-for-england-as-has-been-done-in-scotland-and-wales/14615/1 "2026-08-21T07:06:35Z")

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- NIR supports a competitive imaging market, as opposed to creating a monopoly - allowing systems to choose the best technical solution for their local patients/clinical need, and indeed to change between systems.

- The NIR also allows clinicians to access healthcare images within the independent sector, and for independent sector providers of NHS care to access relevant medical imaging.

- The NIR has the ambition to move beyond radiology images, to other modalities not traditionally stored in a PACS environment.