Hello,
I'm working in a laboratory that is stuck in the dark ages. I've only been there a year and a half but have had a long history in NHS labs - some very modern, efficient and productive; some in the 1980's. So, I have seen efficient labs and those stuck with their head in the sand (managers)!
I'm in a new area, but still within the NHS working as a band 7, but am becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of technology to assist the workflow of the laboratory resulting process. We receive tests on paper forms with handwritten details which are then booked into, a basic laboratory reporting system, manually by staff in the lab (which takes ages). Often they can't read what is written. All results are handwritten on to forms and scanned and emailed out to users. Often, with results crossed out and errors corrected which, imo, looks unprofessional! Some are entered on to the reporting system and some users receive automated emails with results. The department uses a reporting system that users have access to (set up by a student years ago who has now become very rich off of the back of it) but it is very, very basic and doesn't tailor for end-to-end laboratory reporting. It is driving me crazy and my manager just doesn't have the vision, or drive, to move things forward. Problem is, the area we work in is very bespoke and the service provider (of the reporting system) has taken advantage of this as he knows there is no other available LIMS to cover what we need. Users are located across the country and are tied to the system as we use it. Plus, my manager is personal friends with the MD of the company, I believe.
It is inefficient. Costing the NHS ridiculous amounts of money due to inefficiencies and staff end up doing lots of checking work rather than the job they were employed to do (including me). Lots of staff time is being used up with manual data entry then data checks (by senior staff) at the end of the process. Then handwritten signatures on many, many reports per day by senior staff rather than a digital authorisation and release. There are errors, obviously. Lots of deviations meaning increased time spent on sorting these out. The quality management team are drowning. So, very, very inefficient. Staff are drowning in unnecessary work. All because they haven't moved with the times.
I'd, personally, like to bring in a project manager to sort the place out. Most of the senior staff haven't worked elsewhere and don't see what I do. I'd like a complete end-to-end LIMS with barcodes on things to make booking on easier. Audit trails etc.
Problem is ...we are stuck with the company we use now who are making no effort to upgrade to the system to the current century. It's like we are in a 1980's time zone. I was thinking about barcodes in supermarkets and why that was brought in and how it has revolutionised shopping and stock control.
I'd like all users to be sending stuff in with barcodes(with user details, numbers etc.) so that they can just be quickly scanned in at our end with reduced errors as a result. It would free up so much staff time!!
If my manager is so insistent on sticking with his current reporting system provider is there any way that I can arrange for barcodes to be used at the user end to link to relevant details without relying on the service provider to set this up for us? I'm not IT savvy (apart from the basics) but really need to see how to move things forward. I wish I had a computer degree as I'd make a fortune myself with this!
Any IT people know what I mean and can point me in the right direction?