The traditional sight of white-coated hospital staff clustering round a patient's x-rays on a light box to diagnose conditions from simple bone fractures to life-threatening diseases is heading for the dustbin of history.
Ministers promise that within three years, a national system of storing and filing digital pictures will mean an end to the time-consuming process of developing x-ray films and transferring them manually between departments.
Instead, images will be sent by computer from x-ray or scanning machines to consultants' computer screens at the touch of a button.
It should mean speedier diagnosis, easier access - for instance from minor injuries units or mobile clinics - and lower radiation doses for patients undergoing screening.
The technology that has made this possible already exists in 25 hospital trusts in England, but the high cost of the system has meant pioneering centres have been unable to transfer the images off-campus to other sites.
However, a national bulk purchasing programme for the system, which can cost between £3m and £9m to install as part of an IT upgrade, has meant a drastic lowering of costs.
The expansion is one of the main developments associated with the Department of Health's £6bn IT programme.
The health minister John Hutton said: "The digital image will follow the patient wherever they go and will be able to be recalled whenever and wherever they need to be accessed by a patient's healthcare professional."
• New safety rules on the design, wrapping, labelling, storage and checking of anaesthetic equipment are being sent to hospitals in the wake of the death of a nine-year-old boy three years ago.
Tony Clowes died at Broomfield hospital, Essex, when part of a breathing tube was blocked by a disposable cap.
A dozen similar incidents were reported during a police investigation into whether there had been any criminal intent. Officials concluded it was an accident, although an inquest jury decided that "system neglect" had contributed.
An investigation by an expert group published yesterday concluded that many such events went unrecorded.
