Lab survey settles on best LIMS software

A survey conducted of laboratory information systems by consultancy firm Feltham Associates has placed Technidata’s Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) top in customer satisfaction.

Dave Simm, general manager of Technidata, said he was "extremely pleased" with the results of the report, calling at a "major vote of confidence" from his users. The TD-Synergy system received high evaluation marks from users, in areas such as ownership cost, functionality and performance and in disciplines such as haematology and immunology.

Simm told EHI that the vast majority of the laboratories surveyed expressed favourable opinions towards his company’s software: "All were NHS customers; 22/24 of the trusts."

The survey, entitled ‘The Future of Laboratory Information Management Systems in the UK National Health Service’, was sponsored by LabWare and undertaken by 67 NHS laboratories across the UK. It found significant backing for the idea that LIMS should have been made part of the NPfIT core due to the dependence of clinicians on pathology systems.

Respondents also argued that they should have more choice of laboratory information systems, and that some LSP-backed LIMS systems were not often the best available.

Those who answered the survey also felt that they needed to have more choice over which system they used. They also expressed concerns over NPfIT timetables, funding, outsourcing and consolidation of laboratory services.

The survey also noted that the LIMS market also appears to have stalled in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with only two new contracts being awarded in 2003.

Simm added that he believed the Technidata system was popular due to the investment the company was putting into the product and its ability to patch into N3: "The need to move to N3 will apply to all. The way the software has been developed fits nicely within N3."

Last month, Technidata claimed to that TD-Synergy was the first LIMS system to exit from the NPfIT sandpit and was approved for connection to N3.

Simm said: "We could wish for no better reward for the superior quality of customer care we have endeavoured to maintain over many years."