Six companies have been shortlisted by Informing Healthcare as potential providers of the new all-Wales Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).

Following evaluation Cerner, Clinisys, EMIS, iSOFT, InterSystems and Technidata have been selected to respond to a more detailed specification. 

The chosen supplier will be responsible for a national networked pathology system for Wales that will replace the 13 systems, currently in use across 18 pathology laboratories, which are approaching the end of their technical life.

The new LIMS will make it easier for labs to share information and provide greater scope for standardisation and expansion to meet future demand. Pathology laboratories in Wales carried out more than 22 million tests in 2008 with the number growing by around two million annually.

The new LIMS will be required to deliver a single pathology patient record, improved management and tracking of samples and better access to workload information for service planning.

The new system is expected to be in place during 2010.