Analysis of blood and urine tests currently run across Kent by the NHS could be outsourced to a private company in a move which union bosses warn could put patients at risk.
Health chiefs from Kent’s four hospital trusts – Dartford and Gravesham, East Kent, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells and Medway – are currently discussing plans to create a single, county-wide pathology service, which they say could save the NHS £5million over four years.
Under the proposals, pathology laboratories, used to analyse test results and diagnose diseases, could be moved to a number of ‘hubs’, with three possible options for management of the overall service also published in a strategic outline case.
Full story in Kent OnLine, 4 January 2019
