North Bristol NHS Trust has selected Biomerieux UK to provide a range of automation, including the Bact/Alert 3D microbial detection system.
The trust recently awarded its tender for pathology managed equipment and consumables services to Roche Diagnostics.
As part of that tender, Biomerieux was chosen to provide a range of automation as part of the microbiology solution.
The Bact/Alert 3D system has been utilised by Southmead and Frenchay hospitals, simplifying the integration of the two laboratories.
Jon Mitchell, laboratory manager for both hospitals, said: 'The trust identified financial advantages in moving to a managed service contract, and following an extensive tendering and evaluation process it selected Biomerieux as the service provider for blood and mycobacteria culture.
'We now use the Bact/Alert 3D system in both of the trust's microbiology laboratories, which allows the hospitals to share the same database for sample reporting and makes it much simpler to check and view patient results across health communities.
'One advantage is that the Bact/Alert uses plastic bottles, which are lightweight and robust, making it easier and safer to transport samples from the patient to the laboratory.
'Using the same type of instrument to perform blood and mycobacteria culture makes training quicker and simpler, helping to reduce costs.
'Staff also only need to familiarise themselves with one piece of equipment, which is advantageous when rotating between sites.
'The Bact/Alert is intuitive to use; the on-screen display makes identification of positive samples very easy, and it has proved very reliable.'
