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Role as a Reference Laboratory
| 1912 - | The first pathologist employed in New Zealand commenced duties in the laboratory at Christchurch Hospital. Thus was established the first Pathology Department in the country. |
| 1991 - | The name was changed to Canterbury Health Laboratories in recognition of the role the laboratory would have to play outside of the hospital environment. |
| 1995 - | Canterbury Health Laboratories assumed responsibility for running the laboratory service for the hospital and community in Ashburton. |
| 1998 - | The Delphic computer system used by Canterbury Health Laboratories was extended using the Multiple Laboratory (Multilab) feature to provide laboratory information processing at Wairau Hospital (Blenheim) |
| 1999 - | Delphic Multilab extended to Nelson Hospital laboratory. |
| 2001 - | The Delphic Multilab computer system was extended to include the laboratories at Taranaki Base and Hawera Hospitals. |
| 2003 - | Hawkes Bay and Wairoa Hospitals replaced their existing laboratory information system with Delphic Multilab via Canterbury Health Laboratories. |
The laboratories perform all testing on patients under the care of the Canterbury DHB. In addition it receives daily requests to perform specialist tests from hospital and private laboratories between Auckland in the north and Invercargill in the south. It has the biggest ‘catchment’ area of any laboratory in New Zealand.
While community laboratories are only contracted to perform about 170 different procedures, the contract awarded to Canterbury Health Laboratories encompasses 950 different tests. Every laboratory discipline is represented in Canterbury Health Laboratories and annual testing exceeds 2.5 million analyses.
In order to meet the requirements of Christchurch Hospital clinicians the laboratory maintains a 24 hour on-site service for routinely requested tests. Specialist staff are available on call should a more complex analysis be required.
In order to offer the extensive range of services it is necessary to have an appropriately qualified workforce. More than 300 staff are employed by Canterbury Health Laboratories including 20 pathologists, 18 scientists and 103 registered medical technologists. The reputation the testing service holds within New Zealand and overseas is reflected in the number of national and international experts within the laboratory.
The laboratory is the best equipped in New Zealand. Here is a sample:
This indicates the significant investment Canterbury District Health Board has made in its laboratory service and its confidence in its future.
Canterbury Health Laboratories uses the Delphic laboratory information system supported by five dedicated IT staff. The system provides results in HL7 format for transmission to referrers’ patient management systems. Canterbury Health Laboratory currently provides electronic reporting to over 200 GP practices via a Healthlink mailbox.
Seven laboratories utilise the CHLab LIS via Delphic Multilab and eleven other laboratories have links to the system thus enabling result inquiry and reporting to be performed locally.
Canterbury Health Laboratories is accredited with International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) in all disciplines and for all medical testing procedures it performs. Please note that although CHL is willing to undertake non-medical testing, it is not covered by the scope of it's accreditation. Click on the following links to view our IANZ documentation:
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IANZ
Schedule to Certificate of Accreditation Medical Testing Certificate |
CHL also hold permits from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) to import biological products of animal origin. For further information on these MAF permits please contact our Quality Manager:
| Email: | kevin.taylor@cdhb.govt.nz |
| Telephone: | 03 364 0388 |
Role as a Reference Laboratory
In 1993 Crown Health Enterprises (CHEs) were established as Crown Owned Entities. All CHEs had clear geographical boundaries except in Canterbury where the two CHE’s (Canterbury Health Ltd and Healthlink South Ltd) shared the same territory but provided different services. Canterbury Health was responsible for all acute services while Healthlink South provided community, mental, older persons and women’s health services.
Canterbury Health Laboratories became the laboratory service of Canterbury Health Ltd. As this CHE focused solely on acute services it required a responsive laboratory service capable of performing very specialised tests. This in turn lead to it being utilised more and more by other laboratories, which saw the benefits of having a central reference laboratory performing these tests. The laboratory not only produced quality results but also was able to improve turnaround time and reduce cost because of increased volumes.
While District Health Boards have replaced CHEs, Canterbury Health Laboratories continues to perform these difficult tests aided by 20 pathologists to help with interpretation. Further, a large team of research scientists is constantly developing new tests and procedures.
A courier network uplifts samples every working day from laboratories as far north as Auckland Hospital right the way through to Southland Hospital in Invercargill. Test results are either transmitted electronically to the referrer’s own computer system or can be accessed via an electronic link to the Canterbury Health Laboratories computer.
In December 2001 Canterbury Health Laboratories was selected as the sole provider of reference testing for the lower North Island (former Central Region). In selecting Canterbury Health Laboratories the evaluation team rejected bids from Auckland, Waikato and Wellington Hospital laboratories.
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| Canterbury Health Laboratories |
