A taskforce set up to help solve a serious deterioration in turnaround times for test results from SA Pathology following the go-live of Cerner's laboratory information system is reporting that a data entry backlog has been cleared but there are issues that still need to be resolved.
The full roll-out of the Enterprise Pathology Laboratory Information System (EPLIS), now being called EPLIS Millennium, saw such a deterioration in turnaround times in May this year that patient safety became a concern, and caused what the taskforce calls a “massive loss of confidence” in SA Pathology by GPs.
The format of pathology reports was so user-unfriendly and unfamiliar that some GPs changed their preferred provider to private labs, the taskforce found, and one of its main recommendations is that there be a strong focus and marketing effort to meet the special requirements of the GP community and to restore confidence and market share.
