Blackpool hospital bosses hope new cutting edge coronavirus testing kit will relieve pressure on A&E
The equipment can turn around covid-19 test results in just 15 minutes.
Last updated 22nd Jan 2021
Blackpool Hospital has received cutting edge kit that can turn around coronavirus test results in just 15 minutes.
It’s hoped it will relieve pressure on the A&E department by screening patients for the virus faster than ever before.
Winter pressures amid rising numbers of intensive care patients with coronavirus means the ‘Abbott ID Now Point of Care Testing’ equipment has emerged as a critical piece of kit in the Trust’s fight against outbreaks of COVID.
The technology is capable of producing fast diagnosis to patients arriving at the Emergency Department and other walk-in areas of the hospital.
The Trust has commissioned a new area within the hospital, a new ‘hot lab’ where the testing will take place.
Dr Jim Gardner, Medical Director at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Everyone who comes to A&E - and we're talking about, let's say about 150 patients per day - need to be screened for covid.
"We won't admit patients until we know what their covid status is. The sooner we know that, the sooner we can make the right decision about where to place those patients.
"So really this is a question of speeding up the flow of patients through the accident and emergency department, but also to other departments in the hospital. Think about our intensive care unit for example where it's so important to know the covid status of those patients going in and out of that unit."
“This new Covid test will benefit patients and staff enormously," said Clare Ellis, Acting Pathology Directorate Manager at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
“We have carried out a verification with some initial test kits and worked alongside Biomedical Scientists and Consultants in Virology to achieve this. We hope to get a bigger delivery this week so we can roll this out more consistently and move forward with the rapid testing.
“We are absolutely delighted to have these devices in our Trust We are really excited about this, it is a big achievement for the team to get these implemented in such a short space of time.”
“A lot of work has been going on with the COVID tests, with all the manufacturers for all the different platforms and everyone is racing trying to get tests out.
“But we are not taking shortcuts, but COVID is the one priority now, to get this stuff done.
“Our virology team have got several tests that they worked on and have introduced over the last few months, it has been a mammoth effort and everybody in the pathology lab has played some role in some aspect in helping to manage the COVID pandemic.”