Welsh Government Invests in NHS Laboratories
A proportion of this fund will be spent recruiting accredited biomedical science staff in NHS hospital laboratory expansions.
Funding will go towards hiring additional staff and providing extra equipment in three regional laboratories: University Hospital Wales, Cardiff, Morriston Hospital, Swansea and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Rhyl. This will enable these laboratories to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Public Health Wales also plan to set up six new “hot labs” based at acute hospitals across Wales: Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli, Morriston Hospital, Swansea, Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil, University Hospital in Llandough and Grange Hospital, Cwmbran. The “hot labs” will be stocked with rapid (<4 hours) COVID-19 testing equipment.
We are pleased that the Welsh government is maintaining a highly skilled and regulated professional workforce whilst upscaling coronavirus testing.
IBMS President Allan Wilson commented:
“We congratulate the Welsh government for the foresight to deliver this increased capacity within an NHS setting. This is a significant investment in patient care and testing capacity and the IBMS welcomes the additional opportunities that this will offer biomedical scientists and our members in Wales.
This investment will deliver improved turnaround times for testing and facilitate rapid responses to outbreaks through test and trace. The quality of the testing will be assured by investing in existing, accredited NHS laboratories which are already linked to clinical systems. This is not just an improvement in the existing response to the pandemic but also a considerable investment in contingency planning to create a system with capacity to rapidly respond to future outbreaks.”
This new capacity will also deliver access to rapid norovirus and C. difficile molecular testing. The £32m funding will allow more time for staff to support COVID-19 testing as well as facilitate the testing of other respiratory illnesses.
Additional Resources
The Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and the NHS in Wales outlined their plans in a statement on 18th August 2020.
Read our position statement: High-Quality Staff Provide High-Quality Services