Public Health England (PHE) and the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust recently officially opened a new two-storey extension to the current pathology building on the Heartlands Hospital site in Birmingham.
Jointly funded in partnership with Public Health England West Midlands, the extension will accommodate a new centralised core laboratory. Investment in both service redesign and new equipment includes a 26 metre-long automatic track to increase efficiency in processing test results. The facility, designed by architects, RPS, and built by Interserve, also houses a molecular biology laboratory, and a new bacteriology laboratory.
Dr Husam Osman, PHE consultant virologist, and clinical service director at the Hospital’s laboratory, said: “The new facilities will provide a strong boost for pathology modernisation plans for the West Midlands, while helping the PHE laboratory deliver a comprehensive public health microbiology service at a regional and national level.”
In future it is hoped over 9,000 samples will be turned around ‘24 /7’, 365 days a year, for the Trust and local GPs, with complete turnaround in under 24 hours for some samples.
Specialist testing of cervical cancer, HPV, chlamydia, and MRSA samples, will take place, alongside processing Tuberculosis tests from across the UK.
