Dutch hospital admits Delphic pathology system

By ADAM GIFFORD

Auckland software house Delphic Medical Systems has scored an important European win, selling its Anatomical Pathology (AP) system to a leading Dutch teaching hospital.

It has also secured its first British site, the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Liverpool.

Business development manager Mark Cox said the sale to Leiden University Medical Centre took 18 months of discussion and negotiation, and was complicated by the fact that the incumbent system was paid for by a statutory levy.

"In Holland there is an organisation, Palga, which was set up 20 or 30 years ago to keep a register of pathology results," Mr Cox said.

"Each hospital pays a levy according to the number of beds, and Palga provides them with free computer systems - so paying for computers is a new idea for them."

He said that although Leiden University would still have to pay the levy, it decided the benefits in improved quality, faster turnaround and the ability to offer additional services outweighed any disadvantages.

Two more of Holland's eight medical schools are also looking at the system, as is a large general hospital. Delphic AP has been used for more than a year by a large private medical laboratory in Eindhoven.

"Leiden is a critical reference site for us. It's a major European academic site and a top hospital. It's trying to compete on the academic side, and it sees choosing our system as a critical way forward."

Delphic AP is a Lotus Notes application. This year Delphic used Notes' international support module to translate all its screens into Dutch, German and French.

Mr Cox said this should make it more saleable in countries like Switzerland, which has multiple languages, or in Belgium, where laboratories are required to produce reports in the language of the doctor being reported to.

"We are trying to create a system which is applicable across Europe and also into Britain."

Previously, a pathologist wanting to review a cervical smear slide for example before signing out a report would have to wade through paper files to find its location in the laboratory.

"Using the new electronic request material management functionality, pathologists can see the location and a full audit trail of all laboratory work, reports, requests, tissue, images and slides at the click of a button," Mr Cox said.

Delphic is also working with a Dutch company to integrate electronic dictation and voice recognition into Delphic AP.

The sale to the Walton Centre was made through Sysmex Corporation.