CLINICAL BUILDINGS
Pictured in a lab on the day of my visit are (from left to right): Andy Munro, Emma Storey, Michelle Larkin, Mott MacDonald NHS Account lead, and Alison Ryan of Mott MacDonald.
consideration, as well as being co-located with key clinical services and specialist staff.” The pathology laboratory building will
incorporate a high degree of automation, in line with the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and its two counterparts’ goal of significantly improving the efficiency and speed with which laboratory testing and analysis can be undertaken. Emma Storey explained: “Leeds
Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has just signed a new ‘end-to-end’ managed services contract with Siemens Healthineers for elements including equipment, consumables, maintenance, and management of third-party sub- contractors, and will simultaneously be installing a new Clinisys laboratory information management system (or ‘LIMS’), WinPath Enterprise, which will operate region-wide. The Centre will thus be equipped with the latest in technology and equipment linking us with the whole region. The shared system will simplify and speed up the transfer of samples and results, and support shared analysis by scientists of results, through the shared system between organisations. This will improve the resilience of the service, and support training and development of staff, through the shared access to samples and results. The equipment on the ground floor – for example for transporting samples for blood sciences to the correct analyser – will also be fully automated, which should greatly enhance speed and efficiency.”
Facilities floor by floor Emma Storey explained that the building’s ground floor will house a central specimen reception that will receive all the specimens from across the St. James’s site, and those arriving from throughout the region, as well as accommodation for blood sciences and microbiology services. Following our meeting, we had a look around the building, where equipment will be installed in the coming months, and then commissioned and validated. The tour of the facility reinforced the impression of
Emma Storey, Project manager for the new building at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, on the ground floor, giving an idea of the new laboratory facility’s size and scale.
the size and scale of the building, with its open plan design – so that scientists and other personnel working there will not only have ample space, but can easily interact. The open plan configuration also affords considerable flexibility should personnel wish to move, or re-locate benching, in the future. Emma Storey added: “This flexibility will also be an advantage when we want to move equipment in or out, or expand services, as well – we hope – as encouraging valuable sharing of expertise and knowledge between staff.”
Sample transportation – to and within the facility While samples from other hospitals will mainly arrive by courier, those dispatched from other buildings on the St James’s University Hospital site will arrive via a new pneumatic tube system. This was engineered to connect to the hospital’s existing system, and is so efficient that samples sent from the other side of the campus arrive ‘within minutes’. Once at the sample reception, pathology specimens will then enter a sample transport ‘track’ system which will take them to the right bench or workstation. Scientists and others working within
the new building, and clinicians sending in samples for testing, will benefit considerably from the new Clinisys laboratory information management system, of which Emma Storey said: “Its installation will mean that a clinician will be able send a specimen here, and, after testing, the results will be viewable at any linked healthcare facility. All the participating Trusts will move over to use the same Clinisys LIMS.” Moving on to the first floor, and in addition to the boardroom, this level will accommodate more specialist services, such as Specialist Laboratory Medicine. The Trust already provides such testing and analysis services or healthcare facilities in the region, and – in some cases – nationally. These, Emma Storey explained, include neonatal screening. She said: “This first floor will also house Transplant
and Cellular Immunology Laboratories – which are particularly important because they support the Trust’s, and some of the region’s, transplant services. This will be the first time such a diverse range of pathology services in West Yorkshire have been brought together.” I asked how the new facility had been funded. Emma Storey explained: “We obtained the funding via a combination of money from the original STP Wave 4 Bid, Trust contribution, and other external sources.” A noticeable aspect when entering the building is how light and airy it is, with full height glazing in many areas. This is especially noticeable in the canteen and boardroom. There is also a series of lightwells, including a large central lightwell, running the building’s full height. When we toured the building, Emma Storey showed me a number of the laboratories – all have a clean, clinical finish, and ample light. She said: “The design stipulated that that all the lab spaces should have internal or external windows.” A number also incorporate a daylight-sensitive, digitally controlled DALI lighting system, which dims or raises light levels depending on the ambient light, but can also be manually controlled. Several laboratories also incorporate safety cabinets, into which staff can place their (gloved) hands when working on samples which emit potentially harmful substances. Any ‘emissions’ are then contained inside the cabinet and removed to atmosphere via a dedicated extract system.
Staff wellbeing One would expect high levels of staff safety and security in such a building, but Emma Storey and Andy Munro were equally keen to stress how much thought had gone into making the new Centre a comfortable, appealing place to work. Emma Storey said: “We are on track to achieve a WELL Gold and a BREEAM Excellent; the design was very much focused on both staff wellbeing and sustainability.” She added: “You can’t fail
February 2024 Health Estate Journal 55
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