labtestsonline.org.au was initially developed by the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists (AACB), in partnership with the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) and the Association for Clinical Biochemistry (ACB, UK), to address a paucity on the internet of trustworthy, impartial pathology information suitable for a public audience. The AACC had launched the initial site in 2001, followed by the ACB in 2003, with the latter site providing the platform for the future Australian version. The AACB started investigating the viability of a local site in 2004 with AACB Council subsequently approving funding to proceed. This was followed by discussions with the Department of Health and Ageing, to firstly make them aware of the resource and to explore funding mechanisms.
We had also commenced negotiations with the AACC to access a copy of the LTO UK site and this was agreed to in mid 2006. In August 2006 a submission was made to the Quality Use of Pathology Committee for funding to build and populate the new website. A copy of the UK site was made available to us in September 2006 and a small team from Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, headed by Dr Bruce Campbell, started editorial work in October. During this time, a Management Board was formed, consisting of Dr Andrew St John (Chair), Tony Prior (AACB CEO), Dr Tamsin Waterhouse (RCPA), Dr Bruce Campbell (Chief Editor), Dr Janney Wale (consumer representative), Dr Bob Walsh (DOHA) and Dr Darryl Nicol (public pathology), meeting for the first time in December 2006. In February 2007 the AACB entered into a formal licence agreement with the AACC, who hold copyright on the LTO brand and content and the first QUPP DOHA Funding Agreement was signed in July 2007.
On August 10th 2007 the site was officially launched at the laboratories (PaLMS) of Royal North Shore Hospital by the then Minister of Health and Ageing, The Hon Tony Abbott MHR, ensuring good media coverage.
As the editorial work continued, Dr Bruce Campbell, with the support of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA), gathered together volunteer writers - pathologists and scientists, representing a broad range of disciplines. Bruce still heads up the Editorial Group and has, with the support of Dr Debra Graves (RCPA CEO), been successful in incorporating the LTO editorial process into the RCPA pathologist training program. The editorial group are acknowledged for their dedicated work on the website at Lab Tests Online-AU editorial group.
The original UK material formed the basis on which Australian information relevant to the local population was developed. Since then, a considerable body of new work has been added drawing upon material developed by the AACC, ACB and locally. At launch, the site had 159 tests and 77 conditions, compared with 223 tests and 102 conditions at the end of 2011. All information is subject to a three-yearly review (just completed) as part of the licence agreement with the AACC, the QUPP Funding Agreement and our Health on the Net Foundation (HON code) accreditation, see Certificate of compliance with the Code of Conduct HONcode.
The table below shows our website content and activity compared with some of our overseas colleagues, for 2011:
 | USA (launch 2001) | UK (launch 2003) | Australia (launch Aug ‘07) | Germany (launch Apr ‘07) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 308 | 248 | 223 | 208 |
| Conditions | 117 | 105 | 105 | 36 |
| Page updated | 102 | 53 | 97 | 0 |
| Visitors 2011 | 24,849,780 | 1,447,792 | 858,501 | 354,243 |
| Traffic Growth | 4% | 24% | 42% | -19% |