But Brad Davis, executive director of University Health Network’s (UHN) laboratory medicine program, says these problems are not unique to Eastern Health or this province.
A report released by Eastern Health Thursday, arising from a review of its laboratories by Ontario-based UHN, echoes many findings in an earlier report released in March from a pathology
lab review by the Institute of
Quality Management in Healthcare (IQMH).
“There’s some commonality across lab systems across Canada,” Davis said at an Eastern Health media briefing Thursday afternoon.
He said laboratory medicine and molecular testing have become more complex in recent years and the demands have grown exponentially.
Across the country, Davis said there’s been a realization of a gap in laboratory medicine and in terms
of training pathologists and technologists, but there’s also strong recognition of the need to close this gap.
There’s some commonality across lab systems across Canada,” - says Brad Davis, executive director of University Health Network’s (UHN) laboratory medicine program
‘Commonalities’
“If you go across Canada, you’ll see different issues, different degrees in points of time, but I would say the commonalities are what really sort of jump out at us,” Davis said.
He commended the managers and staff in Eastern Health’s labs for coming forward, participating and co-operating in the review.
Davis also commended Eastern Health for its transparency in publicly releasing the UHN report so quickly, within hours of the executive receiving it.
“I think that’s really refreshing, and I would say that’s probably not something I’ve seen across Canada or in other experiences,” he said.
Among their recommendations, the UHN team has ranked as high priority, a consolidation of Eastern Health laboratories to a single site pathology practice at the Health Sciences Centre.
See EASTERN HEALTH, page 2





