Efficient point-of-care testing for COVID is critical to managing admissions and infection control for hospitals, particularly during Winter peaks. Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals have implemented a solution that is capable of speeding up detection of respiratory viruses – delivering a result in just a few minutes.
Like many NHS hospitals across the UK, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) has felt the full force of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March 2020. During peaks in related activity, the Trust saw admissions rise, waiting times unfortunately increase, and unprecedented challenges made hard due to periods of staff shortage because of required isolation, shielding, as well as sickness absence for other reasons
As the pandemic began, the microbiology team at the Trust, which is housed at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, were sending their tests to Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. However, given the limited capacity at the time, this only allowed for only 50 swabs to be checked per day and, as cases rose, so did the pressure on the testing systems.
While an in-house testing solution was implemented with incredible speed using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) screening, the Trust still had a need for rapid tests, with results coming back in a matter of minutes, ensuring that patients were allocated onto the most suitable care pathway within the hospital.
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