INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Heather Clarke, from the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, outlined the “good, the bad, and the ugly” of its LIMS implementation, which was “going so well” until the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020. The project encountered some data migration and staff training challenges when it restarted, but still delivered a successful go-live in early 2022. Tamara Forster, from NHS Berkshire
Security was definitely on the mind of Clinisys CEO Michael Simpson.
latest version of the LIMS and stay on top of updates to make sure their systems are fully patched. “We realise the process is a bit long, but we are doing a lot of work to make it easier,” he said. “And we will be pushing hard to make sure everybody is current, partly because we want you to have access to the latest and greatest features, and partly for security.” Simpson warned that cyber security assaults are a fact of modern computing life, and the best strategic response will be to get IT systems into the public cloud. “Microsoft, Amazon, the other big cloud companies have tens of thousands of engineers looking for threats and responding to them,” he said. “Many of you are already hosted in the private cloud, in the Telefonica data centre, but our next job will be to get you into the public cloud, because it offers tremendous resilience and flexibility.”
Technology to address the challenges
In the meantime, Simpson said Clinisys continues to invest in Clinisys WinPath. He outlined some of the things the company is doing to make the system easier to deploy and use, such as a partnership with Stalis to make its Careview archive available to customers, and the Clinisys Automated Testing Solution, Cymetryc. On day two, Kate Bryan from Stalis outlined how an ongoing Careview project is helping North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust. Following a merger, it needed to move its laboratories off three legacy systems and onto Clinisys WinPath, and it wanted to minimise the amount of data migration involved. To achieve this, legacy data are being moved into the archive, so that clinicians can access it whenever they need it from an in-context button in the LIMS.
36 Janine Bontoft, from the West
Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, outlined how Cymetryc, which is delivered by American company STS, helped it to manage user acceptance testing with limited resources – a situation many laboratory managers will recognise. Cymetryc provides test script writing support, runs test cases, and gives laboratories access to testing software. Kevin Hall, a LIMS replacement specialist, who also worked at North West Anglia, told another presentation that Cymetryc “felt like hard work, but was actually a life saver” because it freed up time to check that its build matched its design documents.
Hall had other tips and tricks for delivering a successful implementation on schedule. These included securing executive buy-in, finding adequate resources, avoiding “scope creep”, and working with willing helpers. “Don’t try to be a solo warrior,” he said.
Implementations and upgrades: top tips from the top networks Delegates were able to pick up more implementation and upgrade tips from other leading pathology networks. Nick Fudger, from Black Country Pathology Services, talked about building an effective pathology IT team, advising his audience to “start where you are” and really understand your current architecture, before designing, building and consolidating your future state.
and Surrey Pathology Services, outlined how close partnership working and a relationship of trust with Clinisys had enabled it to successfully upgrade all four of its laboratories to Clinisys WinPath 7.24 this spring. And Dr Nigel Brown from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust explained the “challenges and benefits” of moving to a modern LIMS in toxicology: the challenges, changing the drug screens and implementing electronic ordering; the benefits, more automation, better data, and – most importantly – happy customers.
Data drives innovation In his keynote, Simpson also talked about some of the new functionality that is available to help Clinisys WinPath customers get the most out of their LIMS investment. The focus here was on giving laboratories better insight into their operations, for example via the VUE diagnostic console, which Simpson described as “one cockpit for the pathologist”. He also talked about Clinisys support for the hot topic of digital pathology and getting ready for that coming world of AI. “The future will be about automation,” he said, “because studies show computers can already do (routine tasks such as cell counts) better than a pathologist. They ‘see’ things we just cannot see.”
Some of these ideas were also discussed by early-adopters on day two. Marie Parsons, a consultant in the department of chemical pathology, talked about the introduction of clinical decision support at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust. It has been piloting software that reflects local and national protocols on re-testing within its ICE 7.1 system, to save money and improve the patient experience, by avoiding unnecessary phlebotomy appointments and bleeds.
Artificial intelligence needs firm foundations, including functional laboratory information systems, good governance, and digital pathology
SEPTEMBER 2024
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