Many departments and teams across our hospitals are providing important work in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the teams at the very centre of the response is the Microbiology Team who receive the swab samples to test for the presence of COVID-19. By having a confirmed diagnosis clinical teams can then provide care and treatment for our patients in COVID-19 wards. Following their recovery the team can confirm if samples then later test negative for the virus.
Laboratory lead and consultant virologist, Dr Mohammed Osman Hassan-Ibrahim, talks about the vital role in COVID-19 testing during the pandemic….
“COVID-19 came at a time when we were still under pressure from the flu season and we have had to adapt fast. At first we were sending our samples to the national testing team and then we developed our own local testing capacity – the first in our local region of seven NHS trusts. We have grown from testing about 100 samples a day to now double this and this is expected to increase even further.
“My team of 60 people now offer a seven day service and our turn-around time for test results is around 24 hours, which really gives tremendous support to patients and my colleagues looking after these patients across the hospitals.
“I’m really proud that the effort and dedication of the whole team means we have successfully continued our normal routine service as well as responding to the pandemic.”
We will be featuring more stories from those at the heart of the COVID-19 response so look out for more features from us.
