TrakCare Lab live in Wales

Hywel Dda University Health Board is the first board to go-live with the new Welsh national laboratory information management system.

The TrakCare Lab system from InterSystems was selected as a national system by the NHS Wales Informatics Service in a £12m deal in 2010.

Hywel Dda has implemented the system in its Withybush blood science laboratory with further go-lives underway.

It is the only health board where the system has been rolled out so far, but plans are in place for a go-live in Cwm Taf Health Board and for the national cytology screening services.

For the rest of the health boards, roll-out dates have yet to be agreed.

Once fully implemented, the TrakCare system will replace the 13 systems in use at the seven Welsh health boards, many of which are reaching end of life.

It will also support cervical cytology, the Welsh blood service, Public Health Wales for Microbiology and infection control services.

NHS Wales will also begin to pilot an extension of its Individual Health Record project in Aneurin Bevan and Cardiff and Vale Health Boards later this year.

The IHR is a summary of the patient’s GP records, already available for out-of-hours GP services across Wales, but the upcoming pilot will see the health records available in secondary care services as well.

Clinicians in unscheduled care services and A&Es will access the records through the Welsh Clinical Portal, but the record will only be available to view in a limited number of locations at each hospital.