Black Country Pathology Services

The Black Country Pathology Service (BCPS) is a shared arms-length organisation, established with the agreement of the four partnering NHS Trusts

• Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust  
• The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust  
• The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust  
• Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust 

The aim of this consolidated service was to deliver an efficient, effective and sustainable pathology service in alignment with the pathology consolidation proposals of NHSI. The network has adopted a “hub and spoke” model which in addition to delivering the costs savings outlined in the NHSI proposals has also established BCPS as a showcase and exemplar network, providing world class pathology services across the Black Country.  

The delivery solution for the BCPS is a hub and spoke model with a central Hub at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust New Cross site and 4 Essential Services Labs (ESL) based at each Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust (2 x ESL), and the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust. This may extend later to include other Pathology labs servicing the West Midlands. The LIMS will be interfaced to the three different Patient Administration Systems currently in use.  

The new LIMS will reduce clinical risk, provide more complete patient history across primary and secondary care and enable pathology services across the network to work together collaboratively. This will result in an enhanced service for clinicians and offers patients a centre of excellence providing all aspects of a quality pathology service.  

Graham Danks, BCPS Operations Manager, said: “We are well positioned and organised to support the objectives and targets proposed by NHSI.  “Having laid solid foundations, we are progressing well with standardisation and harmonisation across the network”.