Auckland, Oct 13 NZPA - A portion of pathology services in the Auckland region is to be handed over to Diagnostic Medlab, the provider that lost the overall contract to rival Labtests.

Auckland Regional District Health Boards chairman Pat Snedden said DML would deal with 10 percent of cases, and would begin work before the end of the month.

The arrangement, which would last for four years, would involve private sector work, which was in the more complex range of the contracted services.

The cases concerned required a large pathology workforce and covered private hospitals, private specialists, private home visits, fertility treatment and rest homes.

In August, after a two-year delay because of court action, Labtests took over the contract for the testing of blood and other samples for the Auckland, Waitemata and Counties-Manukau district health boards.

However, Labtests, which won the eight-year $560 million contact after a bitter battle with incumbent DML, has faced criticism, including from doctors, over its performance.

Last month, the DHBs took over the quality and control of the laboratory testing.

Mr Snedden said the decision to split the contract between the new and former providers was aimed at addressing the stress in the testing service.

"This change will take pressure off Labtests, enabling them to deliver a safe and reliable high quality mainstream service to their contract specifications," he said.

"Diagnostic Medlab can utilise its existing workforce to take on the private hospital and specialist work."

Mr Snedden said both Labtests and DML would be held to identical quality standards for delivery of their respective services.

These performance standards would be available on a monthly basis to clinicians and the public.

The move to bring DML back into the fold would add $4.4 million a year to the laboratory testing bill.

Mr Snedden said that, back in 2006, the cost of testing for the three DHBs was running at $82 million a year.

It had been reduced to $67 million this year, so recalling DML would take the bill for the current year to $71m.

Mr Snedden said the move would not lead to cuts in other services.