A Cepheid GeneXpert Infinity system is at the heart of a new rapid sexual health screening service in Soho, London.
Dean Street Express, run by the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, provides walk-in sexual health check-ups for symptom-free patients, taking advantage of the rapid, sensitive near-patient testing capabilities of the GeneXpert Infinity to provide results within six hours.
James Beckett, general manager for HIV, sexual health and dermatology at the trust, said: “We have been operating a clinic in Dean Street since 2009 and during that time have grown from one of London’s smallest sexual health clinics to the UK’s largest, seeing around 70,000 patients a year. As we have grown, we have had to look at more efficient care models, and recently set up Dean Street Express to provide a convenient sexual health screening service for asymptomatic patients.”
Dr Alan McOwan, service director for sexual health, added: “Dean Street Express is designed to be a fast, effective and modern service, and the GeneXpert Infinity fits this model well. We were already using a GeneXpert XVI in our main Dean Street clinic, which had effectively reduced the average time from testing to treatment from 10 days to just two days, so we knew we could rely on both the instrument and Cepheid’s technical support. Samples go directly from the patient to the GeneXpert in the neighbouring laboratory, allowing us to cost¬ effectively process large numbers of samples with turnaround times of just a few hours. It makes a huge difference to our patients.”
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