Covid-19 high-throughput testing machine installed

It is the first of five faster, high-throughput, Covid-19 molecular PCR testers to be installed

The first of five high-throughput molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) laboratory testers to be installed nationwide as part of the National Clinical Pathology Program, which will provide faster Covid-19 test results, is now installed at Galway University Hospitals (GUH).

The machine enables laboratories to process up to 500 patient swabs per day, with a processing time of approximately three hours per batch.

In the case of GUH, the laboratory had previously carried out Covid-19 batch tests on two separate machines with a processing time of up to 10 hours and a maximum of 300 tests per day.

"We will be able to return the virology and microbiology equipment we have previously used to perform the tests they were previously used for," he said Dr. Úna Ní Riain, Consulting Microbiologist.

“They will also serve as a backup for the new equipment and improve the resilience of the service. Even as the need to test for Covid-19 diminishes, this new equipment will allow us to run tests to diagnose a number of other diseases, including a number that we currently need to send off-site for analysis, ”she added .

The GUH laboratory has processed nearly 30,000 Covid-19 samples since March. Dr. Ní Riain said the lab ran tests on patients at Galway City and County's hospitals, Portiuncula University Hospital and Roscommon University Hospital.

She said the staff were "consistently amazing" and had shown "great flexibility," which meant they could schedule longer work days and weekend shifts to get Covid-19 tests done as soon as possible.

“The new devices are not only faster and can process more tests, they also allow us to be more flexible when testing. We used to have to test in large batches of almost 100 samples at a time, now we can only test 12 samples and load the machine like a conveyor belt if we get the tests throughout the day. We can even program the equipment to pass urgent tests in the process queue, ”explains Maria Molloy, laboratory manager at GUH.

GUH has started testing all adult patients on admission for Covid-19, including those who are not showing any symptoms. The additional capacity to meet the increased demand was "absolutely necessary at the time," and according to Chris Kane, general manager at GUH, would help stream patients the right way.