[6] It was founded in response to the recommendations in the “Report of the Review of NHS Pathology Services in England” chaired by Lord Carter of Coles, published in 2006.
The winners were Jonathan Ashmore and Cormac McGrath, clinical scientists from NHS Highlands and Belfast Health and Social Care Trust for their work on developing an MRI virtual reality app.
[13] When the company lost its bid for a renewal of the 15-year contract, the Guy's and St. Thomas' and King's College trusts bought out Serco's share.
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.
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”.