Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust is now routinely using Backlogs online pathology reporting service to manage workload fluctuations in histopathology, and also meet the challenges of covering staff sickness and holiday periods. Working on a flat fee per case basis, with no requirement for binding contracts or minimum orders, Backlogs provides the immediate cover and subspecialist reporting needed for this major pathology centre.
Dr Ian Richmond, clinical director for cellular pathology and microbiology and consultant histopathologist, said: “We have an extremely dedicated and expert team in Hull, where we handle routine and subspecialist cases for the trust, but demand for our services is increasing. The difficulty of recruiting at a time when there is a nationwide shortage of consultant histopathologists means that we have to seek alternative routes to delivering a high-quality service. Backlogs provides cost-effective, professional support on which we know we can rely.”
Backlogs was launched in 2005 to provide a rapid diagnostics reporting service for histopathology and cytology. Cases collected by medical courier are assigned immediately to an appropriate specialist within the company’s network of UK-based consultant histopathologists. They are report directly online via Backlogs secure web-based system, providing comprehensive reports for download in a matter of days.