Media Studio's medical photographers photograph over 10,000 CUH patients every year, not counting ophthalmic imaging or diabetic retinal screening. Every photograph we take must have the prior consent of the patient and must be stored securely, while ensuring that clinical staff can view the images when they need to.

The Clinical Image Library has been at the heart of the Trust's policy of safeguarding clinical photographs and video recordings for the past 13 years and now contains nearly half a million photographs. Patients can opt to give their consent to photography in different ways: 

• Medical records only means that the photographs are to be used only for the benefit of the patient and may not be used for any other purpose, such as teaching or publication.
• Teaching consent means that the photographs can be used for medical teaching, where the image is shown to an audience but not published in a permanent form.
• Patients can also consent for further specified uses, such as publication in a journal or textbook, or on a website. Sometimes they give consent for the photographs to be shown to other patients, for example in plastic surgery to show a range of outcomes.

With links to eHospital, the CUH Clinical Image Library is available to appropriate clinical staff in outpatients clinics, where photographs can help with assessment or clinical audit. Photographs with Teaching consent also form an extensive teaching collection, which is invaluable for a teaching hospital like Addenbrooke's with its broad range of specialities.

The CIL is available for use by bona fide clinical staff of CUH. Contact Media Studio for details of how to get an account, or look on the Campus Services section of Media Studio's website for our Factsheet: Accessing the Clinical Image Library.