Microbiology services in East Lancashire have benefited from automated blood culture testing solutions from bioMérieux for many years, and are now enjoying the flexibility offered by the BacT/ALERT 3D microbial detection system. Ian Byrom (pictured with the BacT/ALERT system), operational manager at the Royal Blackburn Hospital, explained: “We have been using bioMérieux’s automated blood culture systems within the hospital for nearly 30 years, and have always had a good relationship with the company.
“The BacT/ALERT 3D system was installed when we moved to our current laboratory in 2006. At that time, microbiology services for the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust were split between two sites, at the Royal Blackburn Hospital and Burnley General Hospital. The success of the BacT/ALERT 3D at Blackburn prompted our sister laboratory to adopt the same platform.
“The system’s plastic culture bottles were also an important factor in this changeover, due to the improved safety both in the laboratories and throughout the hospitals. Plastic bottles completely eliminate the risk of breakages and associated injuries in the laboratory and, unlike glass bottles, they can be safely transported around hospitals in pneumatic tube systems. This durability is even more relevant today, as microbiology services are now centralised at the Royal Blackburn Hospital, making robust bottles vital to allow safe transport of samples between sites for testing.”
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