Black Country Pathology Services goes live with new LIMS at Dudley Lab

Black Country Pathology Services is rolling out the Clinisys Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to all of its laboratories, with the system supporting mobile and cross-lab working to improve efficiencies.

The Dudley Lab became the first site within the Black Country Pathology Services to deploy the latest version of Clinisys’ Integrated Clinical Environment (ICE). At the same time, it also went live with WinPath Enterprise.

Before the go-live Dudley was using a legacy LIMS from Clinisys and an order communications and results reporting system that wasn’t able to support both pathology and radiology.

At Dudley, WinPath Enterprise was closely integrated with ICE so that results can feed into the electronic patient record (EPR) used by The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and other key IT systems.

Ravinder Sahota-Thandi, digital portfolio director at Dudley Group, said: “It means we are closer to working as one network, and that creates efficiencies, at a time when they are badly needed. It also delivers benefits for clinicians.

“If they work across the four trusts in the network, they no longer need to be trained in four different systems; and it is much easier to find results to inform patient care.

“The whole project is about being cognisant of the future, which is about working as one, integrated system, and providing the best possible care for patients, in the least disruptive way possible.”

The latest version of ICE has been built to be ‘mobile first’ to improve working practices and also has improved electronic ordering in all areas of diagnostics.

Black Country Pathology Services deployed the WinPath Enterprise at its hub in Wolverhampton and four satellite laboratories in 2018, to standardise working practices and deliver efficiency and quality benefits.

Since then, a further 11 major go-lives have occurred for the LIMS, as it was rolled out to the hub, the other labs and different pathology disciplines.

Felice Di Rienzo, professional services director at Clinisys, said: “The latest go-live at Dudley was very successful and it’s great to hear that it is already delivering benefits for its pathologists and for the clinicians and patients who depend on their work.

“We look forward to completing the roll-out of WinPath Enterprise and ICE at BCPS – and then to exploring how new ideas like sharing results across networks and regions can support the more integrated, personalised care that the NHS is striving to deliver, despite the huge pressures it is facing.”

In October, Clinisys announced it had completed the acquisition of Sunquest Information Systems, Horizon Lab Systems and ApolloLIMS.