POINT-OF-CARE TESTING
Dr Fiona Riddoch.
expanding area of healthcare and should be recognised alongside other healthcare specialties with its own national job profiles, job descriptions and clear person specifications/essential criteria. Chris also spoke to the group about the coverage of POCT in the registration portfolios and the difficulty some staff members have in gaining experience when the laboratory providing their training does not have a developed POCT team.
Next up was Dr Andy Breakell, an
emergency physician who had more recently taken up the role as a Chester FC Club Head Doctor, and is also a director of Cerneretec, a POC innovations company. The talk illustrated the perils of head injury in not only contact sport, but team sports where these injuries can be sustained innocuously. He looked at the body’s response to brain injury, including neurone damage and inflammatory reactions and how these progress with time. Dr Breakell covered the long-terms
effects of injury, and discussed in detail the six most interesting biomarkers which can or could be measured to assess the type and severity of injury. In the future, monitoring of these biomarkers will inform recovery time, and create return-to-play protocols where required. Dr Breakell went on to discuss possible future developments, including a multi- panel test incorporating the most useful TBI biomarkers.
Closing out the morning session, Dr Praveen Kishore, Neonatal Consultant at Royal Sussex County Hospital, talked about his experience setting up innovative genetic testing in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) using technology from Genedrive. Dr Kishore took the group through an engaging talk about pharmacogenetic POCT and its
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Dr Andy Breakwell.
real-world applications. In this case the talk centred around the detection of a genetic variant MT-RNR1. Babies who carry this variant risk hearing loss if prescribed antibiotics which cause aminoglycoside-induced ototoxicity. Dr Kishore described the small but serious issue this caused in his NICU, before going on to discuss the decision to implement the new technology based on a previous trial and including risk/benefit cost analysis, challenges, and extra training required.
The attendees then broke for lunch, taking an extended break to sample the excellent food choices provided by the venue, network with colleagues and visit the exhibition.
Post-lunch session The afternoon session commenced with Dr Jayne Ellis, co-founder and managing partner of JEMMDx, a consultancy focussed on medical diagnostics and femtech. With a current focus of her work being antimicrobial stewardship, Dr Ellis gave a thorough overview of the topic, current strategies and her role of scientific advisor to BIVDA on antimicrobial resistance. She looked at the current state of antibiotic prescribing including where and for what conditions they are given, before looking at the role diagnostics can play, as highlighted in the (now recently updated) UK’s AMR strategy for 2019- 24. The use and effectiveness of POC testing for C-reactive protein (CRP) was examined across a variety of healthcare settings, including ‘Hospital at Home’ and pharmacies. Dr Ellis had recently participated in a Parliamentary Roundtable Consensus meeting discussing the value that POC diagnostics can bring in supporting antimicrobial stewardship, and this
Dr Praveen Kishore.
continues to be a current issue, with the recent updating of the UK’s AMR Strategy and measures taken by MHRA to address it.
The next presentation saw Phill Dickson, POCT Co-ordinator at Bedford Hospital share the successful introduction of POC full blood count into an oncology department. The presentation focussed on gains in patient throughput and improved patient care whilst sharing insights into how the challenges were met and overcome. The COVID-19 pandemic forced significant changes onto his oncology unit, with social distancing resulting in increased waiting times and reduced efficiency. Previously available flow cytometry technology had severe limitations, but Phill’s unit was able to take advantage of a new POC device – the SightDx OLO analyser – to drastically cut waiting times. Phill’s talk also evidenced the laboratory-quality performance of the new analyser, including examples where the point of care device performed better than the laboratory equivalent.
Afternoon session
The final two sessions of the day were expertly delivered by Ian Smith, Head of Laboratory and Clinical Trials, Veritie Group and Dr George Newham, Research and Development Manager, Surescreen Diagnostics, with the session led by Bob Roopra, Chief Commercial Officer, SightDx. Ian’s presentation concentrated on
overcoming the challenges of supporting POCT in virtual wards, a very hot topic at the moment. He first went over the background picture, covering the case for virtual wards, what was needed and the challenges involved in providing services to different patients groups.
JUNE 2024
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