Magentus and the Cheshire and Merseyside Pathology Network (CAM) have been shortlisted for the prestigious HSJ Partnership Award in the category of Most Effective Contribution to Clinical Redesign. The recognition follows their joint work to deliver one of the NHS’s most ambitious pathology transformations — a programme that is reshaping diagnostic services for 2.7 million people across five NHS Trusts.
A single LIMS for an entire region
At the heart of the programme is the replacement of multiple legacy Laboratory Information Management Systems, some up to 30 years old, with a single regional LIMS, Evolution vLab® from Magentus. The £11.5m initiative is creating three laboratory hubs under one unified pathology service, connecting the Countess of Chester Hospital, Wirral University Teaching Hospital, Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals, Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, and Liverpool Clinical Laboratories.
Once live, the system will support approximately 2,000 staff in delivering up to 53 million pathology tests every year. For patients, the benefits include reduced duplicate testing, faster turnaround times, and consistent results regardless of where a test is processed. Given that pathology diagnostics play a role in 95% of patient journeys, the impact on care across Cheshire and Merseyside will be substantial.
Built on genuine collaboration
What sets this programme apart, and what earned its HSJ shortlisting, is the depth of partnership between NHS teams and Magentus. Rather than operating as separate customer and supplier, the two have functioned as a single integrated delivery team from the outset.
That collaborative ethos has been backed by real action: almost 100 hours of co-design workshops, 20 days of on-site laboratory visits, and regular Clinical Reference Group meetings have shaped every design decision. Staff engagement has been maintained through FAQs, explainer videos and workflow updates developed with neurodiversity and inclusivity principles in mind.
“Implementing a regional LIMS at this scale is one of the most complex and ambitious things a pathology network can do,” said Christine Usher, Programme Director for the Cheshire and Merseyside LIMS Programme. “With Magentus, this programme is disrupting traditional models and showing what’s possible when NHS teams and suppliers work together as a single delivery team.”
Clinically led, digitally enabled
Clinical safety and quality have been embedded throughout the design process. Workflow design was shaped through detailed mapping exercises and direct observation during laboratory visits, allowing the team to identify practical issues the new LIMS can address. Harmonisation work across all five Trusts has aligned test catalogues, coding and workflows, ensuring consistent and comparable results network-wide.
The programme’s multi-tiered governance structure — spanning executive oversight, day-to-day delivery coordination, clinical reference groups and discipline-specific working groups — ensures transparency, accountability and clear clinical ownership at every level.
On the technical side, the groundwork for future innovation is already in place. The AWS cloud-hosted environment meets NHS requirements for security and resilience, interfaces with national systems including NHS Spine have been mapped, and plans are progressing to connect to the National Disease Registration Service API for automated cancer reporting.
A model for NHS digital transformation
As the programme moves into its build and implementation phase, staged releases will introduce new functionality, interfaces will be tested with around 150 analysers and middleware systems, and a demo environment will give laboratory staff hands-on experience before formal training begins.
The programme has already been recognised as an example of best practice in collaboration and digital maturity. Malcolm Gandy, Director of Informatics at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, described it as “perhaps a model for how we should approach complex digital programmes in the NHS,” citing the genuine clinical, operational and digital engagement across the region.
For Magentus, the shortlisting reinforces the value of working as true partners with NHS organisations. “By combining Magentus’ technical and clinical expertise with the knowledge of local teams, we are building a system designed around real-world laboratory practice,” said Marlen Suller, Managing Director of Clinical Diagnostics EMEA at Magentus. “This is a programme built on trust, shared responsibility and a clear vision for how technology can support better patient care.”
