Tony Cambridge looks at a changing healthcare landscape as the service continues to respond to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and considers the important role of point-of-care tests and combination testing.
New models of care are now the main topic of discussion beyond SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and test availability. It has been clear for some time that healthcare must be delivered in a different way in order to preserve the core services within the healthcare landscape. Patients need to be assessed and managed under new protocols and in new locations in order to safeguard the acute and critical services provided by secondary and tertiary organisations.
The impact of a well-governed and accessible diagnostic testing programme is well known, both in hospitals and the community. Now more than any other time, the community settings can provide the support patients need, not only in identifying health conditions at the earliest opportunity, but to manage the progression and resolution of that condition; all without visiting secondary care establishments. In those situations, where secondary and acute care is required, effective diagnostic tools must be adopted in order to optimise care delivery and protect non-infected patients and staff.
Unseen impact of a pandemic
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