North of Scotland Laboratories Programme
North of Scotland Laboratories Programme
There is currently no regional level Laboratories programme ongoing.
Details of the work carried out previously are below
The North of Scotland Laboratories Programme was initiated as a collaboration between the laboratory services across six Health Boards comprising NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland, NHS Tayside and NHS Western Isles with the purpose to lead the establishment of an integrated laboratory medicine service for the region, delivering high quality, equitable, affordable, sustainable and accessible services for patients that cut across geographical boundaries. It aimed to ensure best use of the workforce and maximise service sustainability and cost efficiency across the region.
The Programme Board was accountable to the 6 Regional NHS Chief Executive Officers through the North of Scotland Planning Group (NoSPG), and sat within the following governance structure:
Six workstreams were formed as part of the programme:
- Remote and Rural
- Point of Care Testing
- Quality
- IT
- Infrastructure
- Workforce Development
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced a rethink of all regional programmes, networks and priorities and has also contributed to the uncertainty around ongoing transformational programme funding going forward. For this reason the formal regional Programme has now drawn to a close and different ways of achieving the aims of the programme are being sought. The National Labs programme continues to be funded – more information can be found here.
If you would like further information, please contact us