Optimising urine microbiology: the Whitfield Street Laboratory experience

Whitfield Street Laboratory (WSL) is a joint venture between The Doctors Laboratory (TDL) and University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Foundation Trust. This partnership united the UK’s largest private pathology provider and a prestigious London teaching hospital to form a high-throughput (24 hours, seven days a week) microbiology laboratory on a single site. Laboratory manager Massimo Bonaiti recognised the need to harmonise methods and streamline laboratory workflow to continue to meet turnaround times demanded by clinicians and maintain high quality standards.

Historically, the Kiestra system has been used successfully in the laboratory for various samples. Urine samples were inoculated on a whole chrome agar plate but because of the growing workload this method had put significant pressure on the laboratory resources. As the workload increased, biomedical scientist staff spent more time on results transcription, which put pressure on staff and impacted on turnaround times. Finding sufficient refrigerator and incubator space for consumables also became very difficult, as the laboratory is fairly compact. In addition, the large volume of consumable waste generated became more cumbersome and disposal increasingly expensive. The higher number of plates circulating in the Kiestra system caused it to slow and become less responsive, so a Leaner method had to be found.

According to the Public Health England (PHE) UK SMI, Investigation of Urine,1 multipoint technology is the most efficient method to test large numbers of samples. An earlier evaluation2 of the Mast Uri System had shown that 95% of urine samples could be reported within 24 hours of receipt in the laboratory. Thus, WSL decided to evaluate the Mast Uri System to see if these findings could be replicated to optimise efficiency and cost-effectiveness on the urine bench.