Smarter Automation in Pathology: Transforming a High-Risk, High-Volume Process in SystmOne
By automating around 30% of our pathology results, we’re saving several hours of GP time each week. What was once a repetitive, time-consuming task is now a far more streamlined and consistent process.
Dr Liam Knight, Steel City General Practice
At Steel City General Practice, a large, multi-site organisation serving approximately 14,500 patients, pathology management represents a high-volume, clinically critical workflow that plays a central role in delivering safe and timely patient care.
Each weekday, a single GP reviews all pathology results received since the previous evening, often up to 300 results in a single session, alongside their wider clinical responsibilities. This highlights the importance of streamlined processes to support efficient, consistent decision-making at scale.
The practice’s innovative response to this challenge led to them being named a finalist in the Operational Efficiency Award at the TPP Practice Awards.
The Need for a Smarter Approach
The process was heavily manual and repetitive, requiring clinicians to review and interpret each result individually, determine appropriate follow-up, communicate outcomes to patients, and delegate actions to the wider team.
As a high-frequency and clinically critical task, it consumed substantial clinical time and could introduce variation – particularly in the management of commonly occurring abnormal results, where consistency is key to maintaining quality and safety.
The scale and repetitive nature of the work made it increasingly demanding, with sustained volume significantly increasing cognitive demand. This combination of scale and complexity created a clear opportunity to improve the process and develop a more streamlined, consistent approach.
The Pathlinks Solution: Three Components Driving Efficiency and Consistency
Rather than introducing new systems, the practice developed the “Pathlinks solution” – a locally configured, fully integrated workflow built entirely using advanced tools already available within SystmOne, without the need for additional systems or cost.
The solution brings together three key components: an optimised auto-review rules engine, a bespoke pathology management visualisation, and structured communication and delegation.
This was not simply automation, but a redesign of a high-risk clinical process- combining automation, decision support, communication, delegation, and prescribing into a single, streamlined and integrated workflow. The result transforms repetitive manual processing into a consistent, standardised system.
Optimised Auto-Review Rules Engine
The practice refined and expanded SystmOne’s auto-review rules to:
- Automatically file normal results
- Safely auto-file selected abnormal results within defined thresholds
- Trigger patient communication via the Communication Annexe, including coded SMS messages and advice
This enables approximately 30% of pathology results to be processed automatically, significantly reducing the volume requiring manual GP review and saving several hours of clinical time each week.
Pathology Management Visualisations
A custom-built visualisation provides clinicians with a clear, structured interface for managing abnormal results.
Each commonly occurring abnormality is linked to a single-click protocol, supporting rapid decision-making and consistent handling of high-frequency scenarios. With one action, clinicians can:
- Send pre-written, coded SMS messages with patient advice
- Generate task templates for follow-up care, including appointment type, urgency, and clear admin instructions
- Apply escalation rules where required
- Open relevant formularies instantly, enabling rapid, guideline-aligned prescribing
These protocols guide clinicians step-by-step, ensuring consistent management across the practice while reducing cognitive effort.
Standardised Communication and Delegation
The solution embeds high-quality, standardised communication, using pre-written SMS messages that are clear, coded, and designed within system limits to ensure accuracy and completeness.
At the same time, structured task templates provide clear instructions for administrative teams, reducing ambiguity and improving the efficiency and reliability of delegation—demonstrating how existing SystmOne functionality can be configured locally to deliver significant operational impact.
Delivering Measurable Impact
The Pathlinks solution has delivered measurable improvements across the practice – reducing workload, improving consistency, and supporting safer, more efficient care.
“The Pathlinks solution has made a real difference to day-to-day practice —freeing up clinical time, speeding up how we communicate results, and bringing a much more consistent and reliable approach to managing pathology.”
Reducing workload and freeing up clinical time
The solution has delivered a 30% reduction in manual result processing, significantly decreasing the number of results requiring GP review. This translates into several hours of GP time saved each week, freeing up clinical capacity in high-demand sessions.
Driving consistency and safer clinical decision-making
By standardising workflows, the system ensures consistent management of commonly occurring abnormalities across clinicians. It supports rapid, guideline-aligned prescribing, improves the coding of abnormal results, and strengthens adherence to best practice.
Supporting clinicians under pressure
Structured workflows reduce cognitive load and decision fatigue, enabling faster, more confident decision-making. The approach also minimises variation between clinicians, creating a more reliable and consistent process.
Improving communication and patient experience
Patients benefit from faster communication of results, alongside clear, consistent advice and follow-up. These structured processes contribute to improved safety and a more dependable patient experience.
By rethinking how pathology results are managed using existing SystmOne functionality, Steel City General Practice has created a more efficient, consistent, and reliable way of working. The Pathlinks solution demonstrates how local configuration and a structured, integrated approach can make a meaningful difference to both clinical workload and patient care.
The full solution can be seen in practice in the TPP SystmOne GP Awards – Operational Efficiency Category presentation, from 34 minutes onwards: https://www.youtube.com/live/ITiIMbSbvvg?si=bX3N0skmHdb6klGU&t=2030