Feltham Associates has completed what it says is the largest survey of Lims in UK NHS Trusts since the NHS National Programme was announced
This survey was aimed at key senior laboratory and IT managers to uncover how Trusts are managing to run their pathology services with ageing Lims and what their plans are for replacing them.
In England, the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) - now called NHS Connecting for Health (CfH or C4H), has not included pathology as a core service, and this makes obtaining the necessary capital funding from hard-pressed Trust budgets very difficult.
Only two Lims suppliers have so far been included in the LSP catalogues.
What about other Lims suppliers? Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not restricted by a national programme, but still there have been virtually no new Lims contracts since 2003.
Is the UK still a viable market for Lims suppliers? The survey, sponsored by LabWare, was sent to Trusts in early February, and the results have now been analysed and are ready for publication.
Some of the key summaries from the analysis will be published on the Feltham Associates website during 2005, the company says.
An objective assessment of suppliers and their products is included together with rankings for end-user functionality, technology and support services.
The full report is available to NHS staff, NHS decision makers and suppliers.
Further information from Feltham Associates.
