Waikato Hospital Biochemistry and Haematology Laboratories are currently undergoing a major analyser upgrade from January 2020. This is a staged process that is expected to take around three months. Combined, the analysers run 24 hours a day to provide over 50% of the laboratory’s output and the majority of the time-critical testing that is needed for patient diagnosis and treatment. Upgrading this system will enable the laboratory to run a total of 121 different tests on a fully automated system, an increase from the current 90 tests, with capacity to accommodate a further 20 tests if required. This will streamline processes and increase efficiency with improvement to some turnaround times including add-on requests due to new automated specimen retrieval capability.
Laboratory staff register and process approximately 22000 tests per day. This testing will be maintained throughout the upgrade however there will be some manual processes in place that may result in temporary disruptions to service at times. Critical and urgent work will remain a priority, and upgrade processes that will significantly impact turnaround times will be communicated as appropriate.
If you have any concerns or questions, please contact :
Annmarie Pruden, Laboratory Quality Manager
annmarie.pruden@waikatodhb.health.nz
