FEATURE ARTICLES

The DX Group has been supplying a courier service to the health sector since 1999. Now, the company has launched the use of handheld devices to improve the end-to-end delivery process. Established in 1975, DX Group is the UK’s leading independent specialist mail, courier and secure logistics company. In 1999, DX recognised a need in the health sector for a cost-effective and reliable next-day packaging and delivery service that catered to the needs of transporting biological specimens between hospitals and laboratories nationwide.

Worldwide, over 40 million people are living with HIV infection. However, barriers to diagnosis of this condition have now been weakened by the introduction of a new in vitro diagnostics test, which has found application in north-east England.

At Ealing Hospital and Sonic TDL in London, the synergistic effects of Roche analysers and integrated software solutions have helped to maximise resources and create a seamless network.

Interferon-gamma release assays have been developed to improve the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Here, Colin Walker reviews current research which shows that two commercial kits offer considerably improved specificity over the established tuberculin skin test.

The presence of lipid in a grossly lipaemic plasma/serum sample can have significant effect on various chemistry parameters and is a problem in many routine biochemistry departments. In a small study, Jessica Thibeault looks at the effect of an innovative clearing system.

In the ever-changing, evolving and developing scientific arena that is laboratory medicine, Mark Reed spares a thought for a traditional product that is still part of the foundations of diagnostics... the stain.

Delegates including consultant gynaecologists, obstetricians and cytopathologists in the fields of surgical and diagnostics procedures gathered in Brussels last autumn for an Hologic user meeting.

Optimum tuberculosis management requires rapid detection, prevention and treatment, but David Persing believes current technology is inadequate. Here, he explains why a new test could prove to be one of the most important diagnostic developments to have occurred in many years.

Advances in embryology that have characterised medical progress over the past quarter of a century have relied on the application of methods such as controlled-rate freezing, as Paul Lakra and Geoffrey Planer explain.

In today's healthcare environment, automation is vital for streamlining operations and advancing patient care. Full automation has now become standard in chemistry and haematology; however, bioMérieux products are now helping microbiology laboratories enjoy similar benefits. Thierry Bernard and Jean-Louis Tissier explain.

Managed service contracts are seen as a valuable asset in the provision of modern pathology services. Now, Beckman Coulter is branding its next-generation offering as Three60,bringing with it a new level of support expertise.

Dispensing blood from a vending-style machine located inside the operating theatre has now become a reality, as Pathology in Practice discovered at a recent UK patient safety roadshow.

Recently, measures have been introduced which aim to combat the spread of hospital-acquired infections. Now, Oxoid’s range of Brilliance chromogenic media has been extended to complement the very latest infection control procedures.

With test menus and consolidated solutions to suit any size of laboratory, Roche is now being relied upon by more and more hospital trusts for their diagnostic needs and managed laboratory services support. Here, departments on Guernsey and in Wales demonstrate how their laboratories are benefiting from this support, and we learn about a new bone marker assay.

The 50,000th Siemens Clinitek Status urine analyser has just been installed in the Children’s Ward and Teenage Unit at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey. Ward sisters Gail Ashworth and Gillian Rooney and members of the hospital’s point-of-care team were accompanied by some of their patients to receive the analyser from Kate Cox, operational manager at Frimley Park. Members of the Siemens team had travelled to the presentation from Sudbury, Suffolk, where the analyser is made, so that they could see at first hand how it is used in a hospital setting.

Prior to adoption of the EU Blood Safety Directive 2005 (1) into UK law, The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust undertook an audit of its paper-based transfusion process to find that only 70% of transfusion records were available in patients’ case notes. Consequently, the trust sought to amend the process to ensure that the directive’s 100% traceability requirements were met.

Recently, Horiba extended its longstanding relationship with Path Links by entering into a managed service contract for haematology services. Here, Mick Chomyn is questioned about the reasons behind the decision and his thoughts on this increasingly popular approach to financing services in the NHS.

For some time now, the UK has experienced a noticeable manpower shortage of histopathologists. Recruitment into the profession is proving problematic and various factors are responsible for this situation. A freeze in new consultant posts during the 1990s began the steady decline in total numbers. Increasing workloads combined with higher quality standards required by The Royal College of Pathologists and laboratory accreditation bodies such as Clinical Pathology Accreditation (CPA) UK have significantly added to the pressure, which has resulted in some pathology departments struggling to manage their routine workloads. However, one company now provides a unique solution to these problems, courtesy of their revolutionary online diagnostic reporting service.

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is performed daily on bacterial isolates in clinical laboratories across the country. It is of great importance in the hospital environment and invaluable to the clinician in the treatment of infectious diseases. Knowledge of a microorganism’s susceptibility to different antibiotics facilitates the choice of the most effective antibacterial agents.

Since February, Tameside General Hospital in Greater Manchester has been an NHS Foundation Trust dedicated to serving the communities of Tameside and Glossop. Collectively, the hospital medical and patient care teams are proud of their improving service and standards. In fact, this progress in standards of care was noted formally by the Department of Health earlier this year in its official review.