Youngsters on the Children’s Ward at the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust are benefiting from the latest in blood analysis technology.
The ward now has a new blood gas analyser machine, which is helping medical staff to diagnose and treat patients more quickly.
Previously, staff would have had to take blood samples from the ward to the hospital’s on- site Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care to have them analysed.
Now that samples can be analysed on the Children’s Ward, it saves staff time and means critically ill children can be treated even more quickly.
Consultant Paediatrician, Chris Tate, said, “The new blood gas analyser has already made a really positive difference to how we do things on the Children’s Ward and how quickly we can diagnose and treat our patients.
“Before, samples had to be taken to NICU to be analysed which took up staff time. Now we are saving that time and also able to treat our high dependency patients even more quickly.
“It also means we can easily analyse multiple blood samples from our most seriously ill patients, which helps us to monitor and manage their condition.”
The machine can also help to indicate whether a patient may be at risk of potentially life- threatening sepsis.
The Children’s Ward at the RUH has 33 inpatient beds for children with both medical and surgical conditions. There is also a Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU) within the Children’s Ward with five designated spaces. There is a Consultant Paediatrician on-service for the Children’s Ward each week.