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Serology testing consolidates cost-effectiveness, capacity and service in Birmingham

Recently Selly Oak Hospital added serology testing to its automated Roche serum work area platform running in the blood science laboratory. The result is an improved service to the trust’s transplantation programme. Increasingly over the past decade or so the boundaries between the distinct pathology disciplines has become blurred. Furthermore, the advantages of a more holistic, centralised approach to the provision of, for example clinical chemistry, haematology and immunology has seen the evolution of blood sciences as a 21st-century pathology specialty. An excellent exemplar of this service consolidation is reported in this article.

The blood science laboratory at University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has introduced 13 serology assays onto its Roche Modular serum work area (SWA) platform, allowing the provison of a 24 hour a day, seven day a week service. As the trust is a leading organ and bone marrow transplant centre, this enables the laboratory to perform critical emergency transplant serology tests without the need for staff call-out.

Process review
The main blood science laboratory for the trust is located at Selly Oak Hospital, with the microbiology department and a satellite biochemistry laboratory on a different site at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Previously, serology assays were performed in the microbiology department on a standalone instrument. Tests were batched and performed during microbiology working hours (Monday to Friday, 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, and on Saturday mornings), with emergency transplant serology tests provided on an on-call basis.

Recently, in preparation for the opening of the trust’s new Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the pathology working processes were reviewed. “For pathology we have based our design for the laboratories on processes rather than on the usual single disciplines,” explained Chris Gaskin, blood science laboratory manager. “As a result, for the first time all pathology disciplines will be together on the same site. Chemistry, immunoassay, serology, transfusion, blood counts/films and coagulation testing will be combined in an automated blood science laboratory.”
 
Cost-effective consolidation
“We have already successfully consolidated haematinics and serology onto our existing Roche Modular platform in the main biochemistry laboratory at Selly Oak,” Chris continued. “This has been extremely cost-effective for us and has allowed us to increase our workload. The disciplines work very closely together, with biochemistry responsible for the technical evaluation, and haematology or microbiology responsible for the clinical evaluations for haematinics or serology, respectively.

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