News
Early adopter sites chosen for GP pathology test ordering and
results reporting
24 January 2008
Two early adopters have been selected as part of the Primary Care Order
Communications project, which is developing the electronic ordering of
pathology tests and the reporting of test results for GP practices.
The selection was made following invitation of expressions of
interest in September last year, a panel review and formal
presentations. The two early adopter pathology services and their
associated GP practices are:
- the Pathology Service of Epsom and St Helier University
Hospitals NHS Trust, with the Park Road Medical Centre, Wallington;
and
- Partnership Pathology Services, of Frimley Park NHS Foundation
Trust and Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust, with the Bridge
Practice, Chertsey.
Partnership Pathology Services was previously one of six pilot sites
for the Pathology Service Improvement project that finished in 2006.
The Primary Care Order Communications project was identified as a
priority by the Independent Review of NHS Pathology Services in England,
chaired by Lord Carter of Coles, in its report published in August 2006.
Its objectives are to:
- work with two GP practice system suppliers and two laboratory IT
system suppliers, to upgrade their systems to be able to send and
receive electronic pathology requests and results messages;
- identify and work with two early adopter sites which will
implement these systems, with a view to supporting subsequent
national roll-out; and
- better understand how best to introduce this new functionality
using the Spine Messaging Service and the new pathology messaging
standards.
The early adopter sites will work with their existing suppliers. Epsom and St Helier and Park Road Medical Centre
are working with iSOFT and EMIS, while Partnership Pathology Services and the Bridge
Practice are still undertaking formal discussions with their suppliers.
The project is expected to run until autumn 2008. A number of other
sites that showed significant skills and expertise have also been
invited to participate in the Expert Reference Groups for the project.
These groups will work with the project team to support the Early
Adopter sites in developing a framework for action and to ensure that
pathology messaging benefits are promoted and delivered appropriately.
Further information
Pathology Improvement Service
www.pathologyimprovement.nhs.uk
The reports:
- Report of the Review of NHS Pathology Services in England
(August 2006) chaired by Lord Carter of Coles; and
- Learning from Pathology Service Improvement Pilot Sites and
Improvement Examples (August 2006),
can be downloaded as PDF files from this page:
www.pathologyimprovement.nhs.uk/View.aspx?page=/key_documents.html
NHS Connecting for Health, Modernising Pathology pages:
www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/
pathology/modernising
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