New team at top for Labtests

Dr Michael Coglin says Labtests has received 'significant' positive feedback from patients. Photo / Dean Purcell

New managers and doctors have moved into top roles at Labtests in a bid to control the failures that have plagued the new company's first five weeks.

Health Minister Tony Ryall and Auckland's three health boards, which are paying Labtests around $190,000 a day under its exclusive contract, have demanded swift action to remedy problems including delays for patients having blood tests and in returning results.

In developments yesterday:

- Labtests' chief executive Ulf Lindskog was replaced by a senior manager from the company's Australian owner, Healthscope.

- The team of DHB troubleshooters, boosted from six to seven, spent its first day in control of the company's safety and quality functions.

Mr Lindskog's replacement is Paul Waterson, the chief operating officer of Healthscope's pathology division in Australia.

He is joined at Labtests' Mt Wellington laboratory by the pathology division's medical director, Dr John Andrew, and Healthscope's chief medical officer, Dr Michael Coglin.

These moves come after a weekend of meetings between the companies, DHBs and Director-General of Health Stephen McKernan, following revelations in the Weekend Herald that Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson was concerned by the potential risk to public safety.

Dr Coglin said last night stakeholders had told Labtests it needed to pay more attention to relationships with patients and test-ordering practitioners and he acknowledged the company "could have done a much better job" in this area.

Mr Lindskog had a financial and management background, but not clinical skills. "So the decision has been taken in recent days that Ulf will return to Healthscope's head office."

Mr Waterson would hold the job until a permanent chief executive could be appointed.

Dr Coglin noted that "the DHBs say there's nothing here that can't be fixed and fixed quickly".

He said Labtests had received "significant positive feedback" from patients, but this had been ignored in the criticism of the company.