Shared lab serves four hospital groups

TORONTO – Shared Hospital Laboratory (SHL) and BD celebrate the official opening of a new state-of-the-art microbiology lab that will serve hundreds of thousands of patients annually across the Greater Toronto Area. The new laboratory, located on the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre’s Bayview campus, features BD Kiestra, an innovative laboratory automation solution, and BD Synapsys, an advanced browser-based application that enables access to lab workflow and data.

Shared Hospital Laboratory is an innovative collaboration between North York General Hospital, Scarborough Health Network, Michael Garron Hospital, and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. SHL is the largest hospital-based microbiology lab in Ontario and performs bacteriology, molecular microbiology, mycology, and whole genome sequencing testing. Notably, SHL supports the broader healthcare system and has completed over three million COVID-19 tests. SHL is also a member of the Ontario COVID-19 Genomics Network and has sequenced over 20,000 COVID-19 genomes.

Since the onset of the pandemic, SHL has undergone significant changes, including more than doubling in size, several relocations, transitioning to a new Laboratory Information System, and more recently installing and implementing total lab automation with BD Kiestra.

BD continues to drive innovation in the healthcare space through cutting-edge technology, products, and services. Today’s celebration exemplifies the mission of BD in providing technology and solutions that advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical processes for healthcare providers.

“Automation and innovation for microbiology laboratories to enable smart, connected, end-to-end workflows is a top priority for BD,” said Ivy Parks, president of BD-Canada. “We are proud of our collaboration with SHL to create an innovative lab space to serve thousands of Ontarians with their testing and diagnostics needs.”

“Shared Hospital Laboratory’s move into laboratory automation strengthens our longstanding focus on high-quality laboratory service as well as our leadership position in hospital-based microbiology. We are thrilled to be partnering with BD-Canada,” said Dr. Kevin Katz (pictured), medical director, Shared Hospital Lab and medical director, Infection Prevention and Control, North York General Hospital. “We are thankful to all of our staff for their dedication and resilience throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to the Ontario Ministry of Health for its support in making these innovative steps possible.”

About BD
BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company develops innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for healthcare providers. BD and its 75,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help improve patient outcomes, improve the safety and efficiency of clinicians’ care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers’ capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. BD helps customers enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to healthcare. For more information, visit bd.com.

About BD Kiestra Laboratory Automation Solutions
BD Kiestra lab automation solutions provide total lab automation for the clinical microbiology laboratory. These solutions are designed to enhance laboratory operations, increase financial efficiencies, and advance laboratory operations. BD Kiestra lab automation offerings include scalable and modular microbiology workflow automation solutions, ranging from standalone units to fully automated track-based automation systems for mid- and high-volume labs.

About BD Synapsys Informatics
BD Synapsys Informatics solution enables laboratories to address challenges and improve laboratory outcomes. It allows labs to analyze their performance using enhanced microbiology informatics through a single, advanced platform with an intuitive, personalized user interface. BD Synapsys Informatics solution offers integrated workflow and on-demand insights to empower laboratory staff to impact turnaround time, expedite decision-making, improve productivity, and support their compliance requirements.