Derby Hospitals adopt Department of Health’s Pathology Programme

Improving sample turnaround and reducing costs is a priority for NHS pathology laboratories involved in the Department of Health’s Pathology Programme. Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust joined the programme in 2010 and has adopted Lean processes in its pathology laboratory. This has helped it reach a seven-day turnaround goal, getting tissue samples back to the patient as quickly as possible for a rapid diagnosis. In this article, laboratory manager Andrea Gooding explains how use of Thermo Scientific Excelsior tissue processors has had an impact on the efficiency of sample processing in her laboratory.

Pressure to perform
An independent review of NHS pathology services in England, carried out for the Department of Health by Lord Carter of Coles, concluded that quality, patient safety and efficiency were all target areas for improvement. The result of the review is new pressure on the NHS to meet patient needs through faster diagnosis and the need to deliver cost improvements. However, the demand for pathology services in England is already extremely high; as the largest diagnostic service in the NHS, it meets more than 175 million requests annually, takes more than 5% of the total budget of NHS trusts and reputedly affects more than 70% of all clinical decisions, many of which relate to the diagnosis and management of what are potentially life-threatening conditions.

Faster processing for rapid diagnosis
In May 2010, Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s histopathology service joined the Department of Health’s Pathology Programme, alongside eight other pilot sites, to improve turnaround times and efficiency. The trust serves a population of over 600,000 people in and around southern Derbyshire, and one of its major aims was to improve the service it provides to its patients by achieving a seven-day turnaround time for processing and diagnosing tissue samples.