Horiba UK Medical has announced the first global installation of its new HELO high-throughput, fully automated haematology platform in Torbay Hospital, where the laboratory has achieved UKAS ISO 15189 accreditation. Additionally, the ease of use, fast processing and operational efficiency delivered by the new track-based haematology system has enabled routine haematology work to be smoothed and cut by an hour at the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSDFT).
The service and support given by the Horiba Medical team to achieve this accreditation has also been recognised by biomedical scientists at Torbay. This successful HELO installation follows a response to tender in 2017 by Horiba Medical for a new fully automated haematology platform to replace its 12-year-old Pentra DX 120 haematology analysers. Alongside the requirement for assistance in verification of the new system via Horiba’s Quality Accreditation Programme (QAP), other ‘must haves’ in the tender were robust white cell linearity, optical platelet counts and nucleated red blood cell counts.
The new HELO also met Torbay’s requirements for a tracked haematology platform with flexible layouts to fit a reconfigured blood sciences laboratory alongside chemistry analysers to facilitate efficient working. Key to enabling improved workflows is HELO’s novel approach to tracking – samples can be loaded at any analyser and the system then disperses them, depending on tests required and individual analyser capacities.
