POC testing improves A&E waiting times

Instant bedside immunoassay testing for critical cardiac biomarkers can be crucial to the provision of swift and appropriate treatment in an acute care setting, allowing further assessment or urgent treatment of a patient to be ruled in or ruled out without delay. Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust has introduced point-of-care immunoassay analysis in the A&E department at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in a bid to improve turnaround times for troponin I (TnI) and D-dimer, and consequently patient flow. Unnecessary treatment has now been reduced, with corresponding time and cost savings.

Buckinghamshire perspective

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust is a major provider of community and hospital services in south central England, caring for over half a million patients from Buckinghamshire and the neighbouring counties annually. The Trust is responsible for the majority of NHS care in the county, from community health services provided in people’s homes or at one of the many local bases, to acute hospital services at Stoke Mandeville and Wycombe hospitals. International guidelines require test results to be available within 60 minutes of drawing blood, preferably within 30 minutes, and significant differences have been observed between test result turnaround times from point-of-care instrumentation compared to laboratory analysis.