Ninewells Hospital blood sciences laboratory is overcoming the challenges of increasing demand and ever-tighter budgets by implementing automation. Here, Bill Barlett provides an insight into progress on Tayside.
Ninewells Hospital, part of NHS Tayside, has a busy combined blood sciences laboratory at its heart, providing diagnostic services for the 475,000 residents in the area. Demand for Tayside laboratory services is growing by 5–7% annually; with the newly integrated laboratory conducting some 5.9 million biochemistry tests, 850,000 haematology tests, and 55,000 immunology tests each year. The rising demand, caused by an ageing patient population, as well as protocol-driven increases in test volumes, has placed increasing strain both on laboratory staff and equipment. This, along with a changing funding climate, has prompted a major review of laboratory services.
The review was headed by Dr Bill Barlett and it has resulted in changes that have placed Siemens’ Aptio Automation at the centre of a shift in how the laboratory functions. The automation provides a full complement of pre-analytical and post-analytical sample processing modules, comprehensive analytics and effective IT middleware.
In this article, Dr Bartlett explains why the department felt it was important to conduct a review. “We’re living in a changing environment in terms of delivery of healthcare, whether that is increasing workloads, new diagnostic technologies, or developments in IT. We really have to start to think smart to use our resources more effectively. This is vital because if you compromise diagnostic testing in any way, you have a major impact elsewhere in the system.
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