Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services (BSPS) is extending the use of its WinPath Enterprise laboratory information system to the labs serving Surrey and Sussex Healthcare (SASH) NHS Trust.
System supplier CliniSys said the expansion, by around 20% to serve five trusts and six acute hospitals, will make it one of the largest pathology networks in the country.
The network will also roll out a standardised version of the CliniSys Integrated Clinical Environment for its GPs, which will enable clinicians to order tests and view results from anywhere within the network.
In addition, next year it will move to the latest version of cloud based WinPath Enterprise. CliniSys said this will give the service more flexibility and make it easier to deploy AI and other cutting edge technologies.
Nicola Newman, managing director for BSPS, said: “There are pre-existing patient flows between SASH and some of the other network sites, particularly for cancer services. Along with the ICS boundary changes across Surrey Heartlands, it made absolute sense for SASH to join the BSPS network.
“We’re excited to have them onboard and to be able to demonstrate the benefits of the network model for pathology, which is being rolled out across the country, to make testing services more efficient and fit for the future.”
Hub and spoke
BSPS was formed in 2016. It operates a hub and spoke model, in which some laboratories focus on tests for GPs and others run tests to support the day-to-day acute work for the hospitals in which they are based or provide specialist testing services.
It also provides screening services for the South of England Bowel Cancer Screening Programme and the South and South East NHSE Region for the HPV Screening Programme.
When the expansion is complete, later this year, the network will employ around 1,450 people and conduct around 46 million tests per year for its hospitals, local GPs, and other services.
