Spire Healthcare Installs New ABX Pentra 80 Analyzer

Spire Healthcare is the UK's second largest private hospital group with 37 hospitals and 18 laboratories (the most recent laboratory addition being the Spire Washington). In 2009, HORIBA Medical agreed a contract with Spire Healthcare which resulted in the installation of 17 ABX Pentra 80 analyzers within 6 weeks of signing. Following a successful and ongoing relationship, Spire has just installed an additional ABX Pentra 80 Haematology Analyzer, as well as two ABX Micros ES 60 point of care Haematology Analyzers.

The Spire pathology laboratories provide routine and specialist testing on over 1.5 million samples a year. As well as providing the service for its own hospitals, the laboratories also test samples for NHS hospitals, GP's, pharmaceutical companies, universities, research centres and the UK's largest health screening organisation. With such a large throughput, analyzer reliability and excellent service are critical factors.

“We have had a very good 20 months in our working relationship with HORIBA Medical, whose team has met our haematology testing needs very proactively,” said Dr Fergus Macpherson, Pathology Director, Spire. “Following the incredibly rapid initial installation of 17 ABX Pentra 80 analyzers, where HORIBA Medical stuck to the delivery dates and timetable, our laboratories have been well trained and very flexibly supported in all areas.”

Clive Woodford, Operations Manager, Spire, commented on the excellent levels of service and training that his team has received from HORIBA Medical. “Our laboratory personnel have had access to three different types of very effective training, including residential, on-site and e-Learning; this 3-pronged approach provides great training flexibility to suit all needs. In addition, we underwent a second round of ‘super-user’ training, to give us an extra degree of expertise within all our laboratories for these essential analyzers and further minimise any downtime.”

The successful partnership is set to continue and Spire plans on installing more HORIBA Medical analyzers as its pathology network continues to grow.