French catering and services company Sodexo (SDXAY) and Labco, a medical diagnostics company owned by 3i Group PLDC (III.LN), said Tuesday they have teamed up in a new joint venture to provide outsourced pathology services for the U.K.'s healthcare market.

Integrated Pathology Partnerships, or iPP, plans to partner with healthcare organizations to deliver services that have traditionally been provided by the U.K.'s National Health Service via its trusts. The new initiative will support NHS national clinical programs, while outsourcing to new independent experts.

"We believe this new joint venture addresses many issues raised in the Carter Review concerning improvements to quality and patient safety and increased efficiency, and that iPP will help the NHS achieve its ambitious GBP500 million savings target for pathology services in England," Geoff Searle, managing director for iPP said.

The Carter review of pathology in 2008 estimated the pathology market was worth GBP2.5 billion a year to the health service alone, but was dominated by the NHS with the majority of clinical tests being performed either by the health service or on its behalf. At the same time, the NHS has set itself a target of GBP500 million in savings for pathology services.

Sodexo already has some 9,000 employees directly involved in the U.K. healthcare sector, including 6,000 working in NHS organizations having transferred from the NHS to Sodexo.

The services offered by Sodexo include catering, cleaning, portering and reception as well as decontamination, sterile services and clinical technology services.

-By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9241; marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com
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