Viapath

Viapath is a London-based provider of pathology services jointly owned by Serco, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, and King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

It was established under the name of GSTS Pathology in 2009. GSTS Pathology posted a £5.9 million loss in 2011 but a £3.8m net profit for the year ending December 2013, up from £300,000 in 2012. Income increased by 6% from £87.6m in 2012 to £92.5m in 2013. In 2014 the majority-owned NHS joint venture rebranded itself Viapath when it merged with Kingspath. The company provides pathology services to Bedford Hospital NHS Trust as well as to Guy's and King's.

The company awarded a contract to Cerner for its PathNet pathology system in May 2014.

Internal documents leaked to Corporate Watch in August 2014 indicate that the company overcharged the NHS for diagnostic tests. A 2013 internal audit by Guy's into three of the 15 laboratories run by Viapath found its invoicing and billing systems were “unreliable” and contained “material inaccuracies”, amounting to an overcharge of £283,561 over a sample three-month period. A variety of complaints by clinicians were recorded, centering on a policy of employing staff who were less experienced and less expensive. In a review of its first four years, marked “strictly confidential”, Chief Executive Richard Jones admitted that it had “achieved much less than hoped” and that “initial attempts at transformation were badly handled and ended up costing money rather than saving it”.

Richard Jones, Viapath Chief Executive said, “Viapath is a unique majority-NHS owned partnership committed to transforming pathology for the benefit of patients. I welcome today’s clear statement from Guy’s and St Thomas’ which repudiates the allegations made to the Independent. Transformation in healthcare is widely recognised to be a complex endeavour. Viapath had a difficult start but the partners have worked together to deliver ongoing improvements in service delivery and investment in innovation which is now yielding benefits for patients and our many NHS users. Our scientists and clinicians are world class and I am proud of the service we are delivering for the NHS.”

The company increased its income by 5% to £97.1m in 2014 compared to the previous year. Profit however dipped very slightly from £3.8m to £3.7m over the same period.

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