London hospitals have reached a milestone as they continue to grow their COVID-19 testing capabilities.
The Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PaLM) team, which is a joint venture between the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London, now has the ability to process more than 3,000 COVID-19 tests in a single day.
The hospitals hit the milestone more than five months after processing their first swabs for the virus at the centre of the global pandemic. When the lab, based at LHSC's Victoria Hospital, began its COVID-19 testing work in mid-March it had a modest goal of expanding its processing capacity to an initial 50 tests per day. That has steadily increased with hospital officials announcing on Thursday the lab has surpassed the 3,000 tests per day volume.
"Reaching this figure is a representation of much more than an increase in processing tests. It is the culmination of significant efforts behind-the-scenes to add new equipment, create newly renovated laboratory spaces, on-board new team members, and integrate various IT systems; which today allow for seamless and streamlined ordering and resulting of these COVID-19 tests," LHSC Chief Information Officer Glen Kearns said in a statement.
The team has also been able to regularly meet a 24-hour turn-around time for COVID-19 testing results, even while increasing capacity to sixty-times the initial volume. PaLM worked with the LHSC's Information Technology Services members to develop on-line test ordering tools that make it easier for clinicians to order tests and receive results. They also crafted digital solutions for accurately entering hundreds of results at a time.
However, it is not just about processing a large volume of tests in a short amount of time, Kearns stressed.
“We wanted to ensure we were considering the entire process from test ordering to delivery of the results, and have worked to improve the structure of our processes with that larger framework in mind," said Kearns. "A fast lab turnaround time isn’t valuable to people or the system at large if the results aren’t also flowing back in a timely manner, so we are really proud that we have been able to develop a simplified, streamlined process that is meeting the needs and expectations of both clinicians and the individuals waiting for their results.”
Since the start of the pandemic, PaLM has expanded its regional collaboration to include seven public health units, long term care and retirement homes, and primary care providers.
