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Outbreaks of respiratory infection: preparing for future uncertainty

Infectious disease testing for three West Midlands hospital trusts has been centralised at the Coventry and Warwickshire Pathology Services laboratories. However, when the pandemic hit, there was a need for rapid SARS-CoV-2 testing at each trust. Here, Lisa Berry and Mandip Hira discuss the decision to decentralise testing, and how this helped to streamline patient management for all infectious disease testing.

Efficient infectious disease testing for a variety of viral and bacterial illnesses is essential at any healthcare facility, allowing infected individuals to be effectively isolated while ensuring that all patients can access treatment as quickly as possible. However, the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic put unprecedented pressure on hospital pathology and microbiology laboratories to deliver fast turnaround times for infectious disease testing.

               The magnitude of nosocomial virus spread became a horrifying reality, accounting for more than 15% of cases in UK hospitals by May 2020.1 To prevent this from progressing further, healthcare staff had to act quickly to find ways to test and isolate SARS-CoV-2-positive patients, while trying to maintain a high standard of patient care for all admissions.

               Infectious disease testing for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust, South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) and George Eliot Hospital (GEH) NHS Trust is centralised at the Coventry and Warwickshire Pathology Services (CWPS) laboratories. However, when the pandemic hit, there was a need for rapid SARS-CoV-2 testing at each trust, in order to prevent nosocomial transmission and get patients to treatment sooner. A temporary molecular diagnostics ‘hot lab’ was set up at UHCW using a GeneXpert system from Cepheid, with two additional instruments at the other sites, to test symptomatic patients for COVID-19.

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Upcoming Events

Pathology Horizons 2024

MacDonald Bath Spa Hotel, Bath
18-20 April, 2024

Diagnostics North East Conference 2024

The Catalyst, Newcastle upon Tyne
19 April, 2024

ECCMID 2024 - European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Fira Gran Via, 08038 Barcelona, Spain
27-30 April 2024

British Society for Microbial Technology Annual Microbiology Conference

UK Health Security Agency, Colindale, London
2 May 2024

EQA Reports: Interpreting Key Information & Troubleshooting Tips

ONLINE - Zoom
Thursday 16th May 2024

Participants’ Meeting: UK NEQAS Immunology, Immunochemistry & Allergy

Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield
24th May 2024

Access the latest issue of Pathology In Practice on your mobile device together with an archive of back issues.

Download the FREE Pathology In Practice app from your device's App store

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