NHS Scotland says Citadel LIMS contract will be transformational for healthcare
11 Jul 2022
NHS Scotland says its contract with Citadel Health to supply its Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) will ensure standardised results in real-time to boost effective diagnosis for patients.
The company claims the contract will put Scotland on course to host the UK’s largest connected laboratory medicine network, with software linking NHS laboratory medicine labs and hospitals across the country.
Laboratories across the majority of boards which form part of Laboratory Medicine in Scotland perform more than 100 million tests annually, employing in excess of 4,000 staff. Laboratory tests play a part in up to 80% of all health care decisions affecting diagnosis of disease, treatment, and monitoring response to treatment.
The LIMS is used to result and report all primary, secondary and tertiary laboratory requests received by Laboratory Medicine. It also assists automation of workflows, integration of instruments, and management of samples and their associated information.
By handlinging more than 100 million specimen and test requests processed each year by NHS Scotland’s pathology labs, the system has the potential to improve equality in patient access, cutting duplication and freeing up clinicians to manage resources within the network.
Citadel Health’s Evolution vLab software supports NHS Trusts in England and Wales and the new Scottish partnership follows a successful recent Citadel tender for its Welsh equivalent.
NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) chief executive Mary Morgan commented that the new partnership would lead to improved patient experience and greater efficiency, collaboration and connection across NHS Scotland boards.
Chair of the LIMS implementation programme and NHS Lothian laboratory service manager Mike Gray said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for seamless interfacing across systems and the ability to quickly pull data from an efficient and effective LIMS on a national scale, so we sought a new LIMS supplier.
"Being able to share standardised results in real time will enable effective diagnosis for patients across the whole of the NHS Scotland, paving the pathway for improved patient outcomes.“
