Stockport NHS Foundation Trust has completed the full deployment of the Clinisys WinPath Laboratory Information Management System, marking a milestone in its digital transformation of pathology services, according to a July 9 announcement.
The final phase of the go-live, which included blood transfusion and blood sciences, was finished on April 20 after an earlier rollout across microbiology and cellular pathology in September. The new system replaces a legacy platform that had been used for more than thirty years. The trust adopted a phased approach to reduce operational risk and maintain service continuity for high-demand diagnostic services.
Mark Gordon, Associate Divisional Director for Pathology at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We made the decision early on to split the go-live into two phases to ensure patient safety and reduce risk. Attempting a single implementation alongside other major changes, including analyser upgrades, would have been incredibly challenging.”
The trust’s pathology department processes over 9.2 million tests annually in blood sciences alone. Additional volumes include more than half a million microbiology tests, 140,000 cellular pathology slides across 21,500 cases, and 71,000 transfusion tests each year. This required rigorous planning and extensive testing throughout the programme lifecycle. A key component was comprehensive end-to-end testing and safe migration of about thirty years’ worth of transfusion data into the new system with detailed validation processes before going live.
Gordon said, “The system went live remarkably smoothly... For a system handling this volume, minimal disruption is the best possible outcome, and we achieved this with only minor issues raised.” Proactive stakeholder engagement was cited as critical to success—especially communication with local GP practices who account for much of the demand—and feedback from GPs after go-live was described as overwhelmingly positive.
Looking ahead, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust plans further optimisation of Clinisys WinPath by exploring enhancements such as improved sample tracking and expanded digital workflows. Jamie Stevens, senior project manager for Clinisys, said: “This was a significant project... It worked because it was a well-structured project with excellent engagement and communications.”
