Siemens supplies hospital technology

has been awarded a £300 million contract to supply medical equipment to

and The Royal London Hospital for the next 36 years.

The deal will involve Siemens supplying diagnostic and treatment technology in the radiology, cardiology and oncology departments of the two hospitals. Siemens will begin installing equipment in late 2009 and will be continue supplying technology until 2045.

Barts will become a Cancer and Cardiac Centre of Excellence with the bulk of care provided in a new eight-storey facility. Most of the services currently provided at The London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green will also move to Barts. Clinical services at The Royal London, including London’s leading trauma centre, the capital’s second biggest children’s hospital and one of Europe’s largest renal units, will be brought together in a new 18-storey building.

Siemens said its aims were to combine innovative medical technologies and powerful IT for process optimisation to enhance efficiency in healthcare. Imaging systems, when combined with electronic patient records, for instance, could help drive the improvements required to meet Government targets.

Construction of the new hospitals will begin in the coming weeks and the new facilities are expected to become fully operational in 2016.