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The Pathology Partnership has awarded Capita Healthcare Decisions a seven year, £9.7m contract to provide a laboratory information system, and the platform to host it, to the hospitals in its shared service arrangement.

Combining the pathology laboratories of Cambridge, Ipswich, Hinchingbrooke, Colchester, and West Suffolk hospitals, together with East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, the Pathology Partnership was formed in the wake of the Carter reviewwhich recommended that performance improvement in pathology would be driven by the consolidation of multiple, acute trust pathology departments into single, managed networks.

An effective laboratory information system is a vital component to achieve the aims of shared services initiatives like the Pathology Partnership, supporting an integrated, high quality pathology service that maximises innovation and technology and drives economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

Steve Joyce, the Pathology Partnership chief executive explains: “We are testing 24/7, 365 days a year and as one of the largest NHS pathology services in the country it is essential that our business is underpinned by a single robust and resilient information system.

“The Capita and CliniSys system will help us to standardise pathology information, provide easier access to vital test results, gain better connectivity and meet the high standards required and expected by our hospitals and GPs.” 

CliniSys and Capita will deliver the specialist laboratory software and supporting IT infrastructure to ensure that the shared laboratory enjoys the necessary high levels of availability, security and flexibility. Capita, the first commercial N3 aggregator, will also enable the laboratories to connect to the NHS-wide network.

Steve Joyce continues: “This solution gives us the building blocks for developing and sustaining a quality pathology service that puts the needs of our customers and patients first.”

Simon Hurst, commercial director at CliniSys said: “The scale and complexity of the Pathology Partnership network meant that it needed a resilient scalable laboratory information management system that enabled it to transform the current pathology services across seven physical locations, processing 5 million requests per annum. With the delivery of the Capita Healthcare Decisions and CliniSys solution, the Pathology Partnership will be able to logistically track and process samples from across the region and have an infrastructure that allows for further expansion as the network develops.”

Andy Lockwood, managing director, at Capita Healthcare Decisions comments: “By working together, Capita Healthcare Decisions and CliniSys have delivered a solution that embodies the wider NHS aim of doing more with less, enabling the Pathology Partnership to benefit, immediately, from improved efficiencies and availability of services.  Over the longer term, the Pathology Partnership will be able to interrogate the data for around three million citizens on a single platform, providing huge benefits in planning resources and predicting trends among patients with asthma or diabetes, for example. “

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