Scarborough Hull York Pathology Service has signed a deal with CliniSys to deploy its WinPath Enterprise laboratory information management system (LIMS) in a bid to create a more seamless service.
The rolling out of a single LIMS will consolidate the collaborative relationship that has been built between the regional pathology network’s four laboratories in Hull, York and Scarborough.
Programme director Dave Oglesby said: “Hull and York are 40 miles apart, and we have been building a collaborative relationship for the past five years. That gained impetus with the decision to create a pathology network and to move forward with a single LIMS.
“The operating model of Scarborough Hull York Pathology Service is built around harmonising working practices, and we will be using the new LIMS to standardise ways of working. We want to go-live in all sites and all specialities at the same time, so clinicians and patients see the benefits as soon as possible.”
The distance between the two main lab sites of Hull and York means it’s not feasible to operate a ‘hub and spoke’ model where one main lab is linked to hot labs at other sites. Instead, the network will operate a ‘distributed’ model. All four sites will carry out high volume, routine work, supporting each other to match demands, with Hull and York carrying out specialist tests.
CliniSys’ WinPath Enterprise will support this model by enabling test results to be shared across the whole network and generating data in order to analyse workflows. Its deployment will complement a secondary linked project, which is anticipated to go live next year. This will see local GPs will use a single instance of CliniSys Integrated Clinical Environment (ICE) to order tests. With these two systems in place, clinicians will be able to see patient results regardless of which hospital they were referred by.
Hull is a long-standing user of CliniSys’ Labcentre LIMS, but now its pathologists can benefit from the additional features offered by WinPath Enterprise. York’s labs will replace its legacy system with the new LIMS, which will be integrated with the relevant electronic patient record (EPR).
Richard Craven, UK chief executive of CliniSys, added: “We are delighted that Scarborough Hull York Pathology Service has chosen to use WinPath Enterprise and ICE to support its network by creating a truly integrated system for ordering and conducting tests and reporting results.
“We’d like to pay tribute to everybody involved in the programme for contributing their time and expertise to support these developments during the past few months. It has been a demonstration of pathology’s commitment to the future, at a time when it has been playing such a huge part in the ongoing fight against Covid-19.”
CliniSys has won multiple contracts to update and modernise pathology services, including Northumbria Healthcare and across Northern Ireland this year, as well as its deployment across three acute trusts in the Dorset Integrated Care System last year.