POINT-OF-CARE TESTING


beyond hospital walls, reaching into patients’ homes. Una Health is remaining steadfast in its commitment to navigating and embracing these dynamic shifts. Whether it’s a laboratory diagnostic to combat antimicrobial resistance or state- of-the-art POCT solutions that redefine patient pathways in the community, the company is dedicated to meeting the evolving needs of modern healthcare with agility and innovation.


Fig 3. TECHLAB’s Helicobacter pylori ELISA range.


from a drop of blood within minutes. This approach not only enhances access to testing – crucial in areas with higher prevalence rates – but also promotes increased testing frequency and patient satisfaction. These improvements can potentially lead to positive impacts on diabetes prevention and prevalence rates.7


Complementing POCT with laboratory diagnostics While POCT plays a crucial role in immediate decision-making and rapid diagnosis at the bedside or in remote settings, it complements rather than replaces centralised laboratory testing. Both approaches have their unique strengths and applications, and a balanced combination of both ensures comprehensive patient care and effective disease management. This is why Una Health continues to enhance its portfolio of laboratory diagnostics alongside point-of-care solutions to meet the diverse needs of healthcare providers and patients. Tackling AMR requires diagnostics both outside and within hospital settings. Laboratory screening and confirmation of antibiotic resistance mechanisms are pivotal for initiating targeted therapy and implementing infection control strategies to combat resistance spread. Una Health’s NG Biotech range of rapid tests (Fig 2) detects the main resistance mechanisms against our last line antibiotics used to treat Gram-negative infections. The detection of carbapenemases, enzymes that render bacteria resistant to carbapenem antibiotics, is mandatory in UK laboratories. This is because they represent a huge public health burden, with increased mortality and healthcare costs. The NG-Test Carba-5 detects the ‘big five’ carbapenemases from solid media and positive blood culture in just 15 minutes, with over 100 publications showing performance is comparable to more expensive and time-consuming molecular methods. Una Health’s customers have implemented NG-Test Carba-5 into their routine


16


microbiology workflows to save costs and, more importantly, obtain faster results for the patients. This is critical in ensuring infection control measures are implemented faster to curb the spread of resistance in hospitals. The prescription of antibiotics not only leads to resistance but can also have detrimental effects on patients. One side effect is Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), which causes diarrhoea and serious bowel conditions. It has a higher risk of morbidity and the 30 day all-cause mortality is estimated to be 9-38%.6


The guidelines for detecting


C. difficile infection involve a two-step algorithm: 1) a highly sensitive screening test using EIA for detection of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), or PCR/ NAAT, followed by, 2) a highly specific confirmation test for the presence of toxin A/B using EIA. Una Health distributes TECHLAB’s gold standard range of C. difficile EIA diagnostics, for both detection of GDH and toxin A/B. These market-leading tests are available in two formats, both 96-well ELISAs and rapid EIA cassette formats, that meet the needs of different laboratory throughputs and workflows and are recommended tests in ECCMID guidelines. TECHLAB’s best-in-class EIA range extends to other enteric organisms including parasites and Helicobacter pylori (Fig 3), complementing a much wider range of ELISA assays provided from Fortress Diagnostics. Furthermore, Una Health’s collaboration with Aspect Scientific enables seamless automation of ELISAs on Dynex automated instruments, enhancing efficiency and precision in diagnostic workflows. Through these integrated efforts, Una Health is striving to set a standard of excellence in diagnostic testing, empowering healthcare professionals to deliver optimal patient care.


Our healthcare landscape is evolving at a fast pace and the significance of diagnostics has never been more pronounced. While diagnostic testing has traditionally been confined to central laboratories, its scope now extends


References 1 Hay AD. Antibiotic prescribing in primary


care. BMJ. 2019;364:l780 doi: 10.1136/ bmj.l780


2 Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. Lancet. 2022;399(10325):629-655. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02724-0


3 Cooke J, Butler C, Hopstaken R et al. Narrative review of primary care point- of-care testing (POCT) and antibacterial use in respiratory tract infection (RTI). BMJ Open Respir Res. 2015 May 6; 2(1):e000086. doi:10.1136/ bmjresp-2015-000086


4 Hunter R. Cost-effectiveness of point-of- care C-reactive protein tests for respiratory tract infection in primary care in England. Adv Ther. 2015;32(1):69-85. doi:10.1007/ s12325-015-0180-x


5 Cohen JF, Pauchard JY, Hjelm N, Cohen R, Chalumeau M. Efficacy and safety of rapid tests to guide antibiotic prescriptions for sore throat. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Jun4; 6(6):CD012431. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012431.pub2


6 Mantzourani E, Evans A, Cannings-John R et al. Impact of a pilot NHS-funded sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies on provision and quality of patient care. BMJ Open Quality. 2020;9:e000833. doi:10.1136/ bmjoq-2019-000833


7 Gourlay A, Sutherland C, Radley A. Point-of-Care testing of HbA1c levels in community settings for people with established diabetes or people at risk of developing diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Prim Care Diabetes. 18 (2024) 7–16 https://doi.org/10.1016/j. pcd.2023.10.011


8 UK Health Security Agency. Clostridioides difficile infection: updated guidance on management and treatment. UKHSA, 2022 (https://www.gov.uk/government/ consultations/clostridioides-difficile- infection-guidance-on-management-and- treatment)


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