NHS National Services Scotland has awarded a £40 million contract to Citadel Health to establish a framework for a laboratory information management system for all NHS health boards in Scotland.
The 10-year framework agreement will provide laboratory information management services for 11 NHS health boards, allowing up to 5 years for all health boards to replace their current laboratory information management system services.
The aim of the programme is to provide a common laboratory information management system, support NHS Scotland’s digital strategies and its strategic aim for clinical laboratory services to form of a distributed service model.
The intention is that the new laboratory information management system will meet the requirements of all core laboratory disciplines, including blood sciences, blood transfusion, cellular pathology, microbiology, and genetics.
In the deal, software, development, implementation, training, support and maintenance of the software, and potentially hosting, is included.
Mary Morgan, Chief Executive at NHS National Services Scotland, said: “Enabling health and social care transformation is one of our strategic priorities and this new partnership with Citadel Health represents a positive step for laboratory medicine in Scotland – where focusing on transformational change will lead to improved patient experience and greater efficiency, collaboration and connection across NHS Scotland boards.
“Our procurement team in NHS National Services Scotland conducts national procurements and assists local implementation to help NHS Scotland boards achieve the best value for money on goods and services to support the vital work of teams across NHS Scotland.”
Mike Gray, Laboratory Service Manager, NHS Lothian and Chair of the LIMS implementation programme, added: “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for seamless interfacing across systems and the ability to quickly pull data from an efficient and effective LIMS on a national scale, so we sought a new LIMS supplier. Being able to share standardised results in real time will enable effective diagnosis for patients across the whole of the NHS Scotland, paving the pathway for improved patient outcomes.
“All boards involved look forward to working in partnership with Citadel Health to ensure the new LIMS is developed to meet NHS Scotland requirements and safely deployed across all pathology laboratories and services.”
