We are launching the new Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) within Pathology on Monday 7 July.

CliniSys Winpath Enterprise will be replacing our current LIMS and is designed to manage laboratory data, samples, and workflows. There are many benefits to upgrading our LIMS including:

  • Improved collaboration
  • Data integrity and quality control
  • Cost efficiency
  • Compliance and audit trails

What can GP’s do to help minimise delay- managing advanced orders

To enable us to make a smooth transition over to the new system we kindly ask that:

  • Where possible, please minimise the creation of non-urgent biochemistry and haematology ICE requests in the weeks prior to Monday 7 July. This is to ensure there is not a backlog of legacy requests that will need to be entered manually onto the new LIMS when they sample arrives in the lab.
  • Alternatively, if it is possible to remake any legacy requests in ICE after Monday 7 July, this would also be extremely helpful.
  • All microbiology samples are to be processed as normal.
  • Patients are encouraged to come in for their routine biochemistry and haematology blood tests prior to Monday 7 July.
  • Where possible, phlebotomy clinics are moved to later during the week and not on Monday 7 July.

As a result of the implementation of the new system, turnaround times for routine results may be delayed, so please be mindful and escalate any urgent requests as normal.

From Monday 7 July, you may notice a difference in the format or order of certain Pathology results. This is due to standardisation between the laboratories that share the LIMS that Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust is moving to and therefore cannot be change. Please see the FAQs for an example.

 

Question Answer
What is the PHU LIMS? Portsmouth Hospital University NHS Trust (PHU) Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) underpins Pathology test requests and results. At the GP practice, you will not directly interact with the LIMS but it is integral to the end to end system and connects to ICE.
When is the new PHU LIMS go live? Monday 7 July 2025
Are any IT configuration changes required to my GP practice computer system? Yes, you need to register a new EDI trader code to ICE.
Have I been told about this new EDI trader code? Yes, the PHU project team has been communicating this since 2023. Please check your emails for communications from sender lims@porthosp.nhs.uk.
What do I do if I have not heard from the PHU project team about EDI trader codes? Please get in touch by contacting lims@porthosp.nhs.uk
What is the new EDI trader code I require? The new trader code is 110000042100008
How do I register the EDI trader code for my TPP SystmOne system?

SystmOne practices will need to ask TPP to add the trader code before they can register.
How do I register the EDI trader code for my EMIS system? EMIS sites should be able to add the code and register directly.
What happens if I am unable to register the EDI trader code in EMIS myself? Contact your EMIS helpdesk for guidance.
What happens if I have not registered the EDI trader code? You will be unable to submit requests or receive results from the new LIMS from the go-live date.

Will my system look any different after go-live?

 Not really except for a very slight change. You will still access your GP practice system the same way and submit requests as usual. The only difference is that when requesting bloods, you'll be redirected to the WPE (WinPath) panels instead of the APEX panels (the tests within the panels will be the same, they are just aimed at the new LIMS instead of the old one).
Will there be any service disruption to requests from the go-live date? Pathology requests will not be possible for a period on go-live day. Tentatively 08:30 to 09:30, but this will be added to this FAQ list during May and June. Following this period, processing of requests will be slower whilst the new system beds in.
How long will pathology requests not be possible on go-live day? TBC
Will there be any impact to the turnaround time of results? Yes. For three to four weeks post go-live, issuing of Pathology results from PHU may be slower. This is due to the bedding in of the new system.
Has any testing been completed with my GP practice to ensure the LIMS change at PHU will have no negative impact? Both TPP SystmOne and EMIS practices will have been tested prior to go live (currently in progress). Two pilot sites, one EMIS and one SystmOne, received comprehensive testing and the remaining practices are being tested with unsolicited results.
If I experience any NEW issues with Pathology requesting and resulting after go-live which appear to be linked to the change, what do I do? In the first instance, please ensure your practice does not have any local IT issues e.g. network connection is still active. If you believe the new issue is directly related to the LIMS change, please contact 07874885872 for support.
For Pathology requests made in ICE before the LIMS go-live, will they still be processed? Yes, but these will take longer to process because they cannot be automatically transferred onto the LIMS. At time of cutover from old LIMS to new LIMS, all requests made in ICE will be out of date (we call these legacy requests). When the sample arrives at the PHU lab, it will need to be relabelled and manually entered into the LIMS, which is a lot slower. During this time there will be many legacy requests and Lab staff will also be acclimatising to the new LIMS, so there will be delays. Requests that are made in ICE after Monday 7 July, will not be out of date and can be automatically entered onto the LIMS in the usual way.
Can we (our practice) do anything to help minimise additional work to us as a result of this change and improve the benefit to patients during and after the go-live?

Yes. Fewer legacy forms coming into the lab in the two to three weeks immediately post go-live will significantly help. If possible, we ask you to either delay any of the routine monitoring of patients during this time or try to get as many patients as possible who have legacy ICE requests bled prior to the Monday 7 July go live.

Could primary care colleagues limit the amount of pre-ordered tests created in the weeks before cutover?

Are there any projects planned in the short-term which could be delays to avoid a clash? E.g. one practice has paused a B12 project they had planned until after go-live, when requests will be generated against the new LIMS.

Could practice staff re-make ICE requests from Monday 7 July, they would then work as automatic ICE requests when they get to the lab and would not require the slow manual requesting process? If this is feasible, how might we take that forward with you? (We assume this is a practice-by-practice conversation).
On and after the go-live, will we be able to access the old system so that we can see the test requests we have in there? For the avoidance of doubt, you will not be provided with a new version of ICE. You will still be able to see all legacy blood requests and reports through your existing ICE interface.
Will we need new blood paper to print onto or does everything line up with what we currently use? Paper forms will remain the same, with the only change being the barcode. There is no requirement for new forms.
Will there be any changes to the format of results we receive as a result of the LIMS change?

There may be some differences. Please note that testing has identified the following:

- Full Blood Count (FBC) results: the order will be White Blood Count, Haemoglobin, then Platelets. This is the standard used across all Trusts within the SCP. We do not have the ability to modify this sequence locally.

- Formatting of names appearing in capital letters: this is part of the standard format and cannot be adjusted locally.
EGFR is not present in the U&E results. Why is this? A U&E panel was not requested. It is likely that individual tests were ordered. Since EGFR is a calculated value based on a full U&E requests, it would not be generated.