New automated lab is one of Europe’s largest
- 27 January 2004
The Whitfield Street Auto Lab in central London, one of the largest automated laboratories of its kind in Europe, had its official launch last week. Lord May, president of the Royal Society, performed the opening ceremony for the lab which was built by University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH) in partnership with The Doctors Laboratory (TDL). Sysmed Solutions’ WinPath Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) was chosen to meet the lab’s IT needs. Sysmed chairman, David Neep, said that, at full capacity, the lab could process 8.5 to 9 million tests a year. However, he added: "The main benefit is high level quality control." The lab is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to meet the standards required in modern clinical service. A total of 38 staff work shifts to provide the service. Provision has been made to rotate staff between the automated lab and the other conventional labs that share the building. This enriches jobs and ensures that staff gain experience in the different settings The workflow for the lab has been carefully planned. Samples sent for analysis are received in a central area, sorted, bar coded and the patient data quick-entered in the LIMS. Samples then flow through the laboratory, some directly to the analyser and others to the lab’s robotic sample management system before going to analysers. Once the analystical process is complete, samples are returned to the robots and are either sorted for additional assays or filed for future reference.All information is stored in the LIMS which is interfaced with the laboratory’s sophisticated equipment. This allows for rapid results, look-ups and sample checking.
