Innovative new technology at Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services (BSPS) is speeding up blood test processing and eliminating single-use plastics, benefiting thousands of patients and supporting NHS sustainability goals. 

Thanks to the Indexor system, BSPS can now record the arrival of up to 60 samples in one go, rather than having to do it individually.  This significantly reduces processing time.  Another benefit of the solution comes from the samples arriving in smart racks. This will allow us to phase out single use plastic bags for these samples. 

Other pathology services already using Indexor have reduced sample processing time by 65% and cut the number of missing samples by more than half, while increasing the number of samples processed per hour by more than five times. 

Patricia Ruwona, Chief Operating Officer at BSPS, said: "Deploying Indexor technology across our network represents a significant step forward in enhancing the efficiency, accuracy, and overall quality of our services, through transforming pre-analytics, bringing significant benefits to patients, clinicians and the environment. 

"The system reduces the time from when blood is received within the laboratory to when results are available, enabling faster clinical decisions and improving patient care. It also provides traceability of samples, reduction of errors and valuable data on temperature and handling conditions throughout the journey. 

"This innovation supports our commitment to ongoing innovation in line with the NHS Long Term Plan and to the NHS Net Zero strategy by reducing single-use plastic bags." 

Vusumuzi Ncube, Blood Sciences Operations Manager at Frimley Park Hospital, said: "Indexor will be a game-changer.  It will bring a dramatic improvement in our workflow, efficiency and capacity. Staff currently spend significant time manually unpacking and logging blood samples, but the new system is automating much of this process. 

"Samples that come from Indexor can be processed many times faster, that means patients and their clinicians receive results faster.”