Point of care testing speeds journey for chemotherapy monitoring

With the advent of smaller haematology analysers, such as the ABX Pentra 60C+, point of care (POC) teams in particular are seeking to take advantage. Frimley Park Hospital NHS Trust is leading the way in POC and is clearly demonstrating the benefits of placing vital blood test results rapidly into clinicians’ hands to ensure patients receive the best possible care.

As a chemotherapy and haematology day unit, this is the latest area at Frimley Park to greatly benefit from rapid access to patient blood test results. The installation of the latest ABX Pentra 60 C+ at the hospital follows a generous donation from the KatCanDo Charity. “It is with very warm thanks to the late Kate Coles and the KatCanDo Charity, and all her very hard and brave work, that the chemotherapy testing journey has been speeded up significantly at the haematology day unit,” said Lynda Petley, POC Manager at Frimley Park. “This has resulted in the considerable reduction of patient waiting times and also greatly improved the efficiency of blood product and chemotherapy drug ordering to dramatically reduce wastage and cut costs.”

Vital validated haematology results are now available from the ABX Pentra 60C+ within just 5 minutes of a whole blood sample being taken from a patient within the haematology day unit. Previously blood sample analysis would have taken an hour, as samples had to be physically transported back to the main laboratory for analysis and validation.

“Having blood results, particularly white blood cell counts which are so crucial to patients with malignant diseases, available within minutes of a patient’s arrival at the unit means we are able to efficiently expedite the appropriate treatment regime for that patient on that particular day,” continued Lynda Petley. “We are now able to order the appropriate blood products and chemotherapy drugs in time for them to arrive with the standard morning courier run from the Royal Surrey County Hospital. This has dramatically reduced costs on using expensive one off couriers later in the day and of course prevents unnecessary delays for patients.”

The ABX Pentra 60C+ is a highly compact bench top haematology analyser from HORIBA ABX with outstanding technical capabilities providing consistently good quality and accurate results which are essential for POC situations. As the only compact point-of-care haematology system to uniquely offer a 5-part cytochemical differential for white blood cells, the ABX Pentra 60C+ is ideal for analysis in Oncology and is particularly useful for monitoring patients receiving chemotherapy for malignant diseases.

Additionally the ABX Pentra 60C+ automatically detects and counts abnormal cell populations to assist with the rapid diagnosis and treatment of haematological disorders. “We are delighted that the installation of the ABX Pentra 60C+ in the haematology day unit at Frimley Park has enhanced the quality of service delivered to patients and has become an integral part of improved healthcare by providing laboratory quality results in a POC setting” said Vanessa Chomyn of HORIBA ABX.

There are now five ABX Pentra 60 C+ analysers in action around Frimley Park and the Royal Surrey Hospitals. All are interfaced with the respective laboratory information system (LIS), so results are available ‘on screen’ throughout each hospital. The introduction of haematology POC areas has certainly raised overall awareness of the benefits of bringing testing closer to the patient in the hospital. Indeed, it was as a direct result of chemotherapy nurses gaining temporary access to an ABX Pentra 60C+ located at Frimley Park’s Outpatients department, where the Chemotherapy Department was briefly sited, that the value of installing such an analyser within the haematology day unit first became evident.