Blood testing supplier Medichecks has showcased its new pathology platform, Plasma, at the Digital Healthcare Show 2023, boosting capacity for blood test diagnostics.
Plasma will allow the NHS, GPs, pharmacies, fertility clinics and other healthcare providers to meet the increased demand for pathology testing solutions.
The flexible solutions allow partners to select from a ready-made catalogue of around 100 tests, across finger prick and venous blood collection. Alternatively, tests can be tailor-made to requirements.
Users will also gain access to over 200 nationwide partner phlebotomy clinics if required, while receiving results from the brand’s network of accredited laboratories.
Medichecks believes that the new platform has the potential to allow the UK healthcare system to evolve by enabling diagnostics-as-a-service.
Dr Sam Rodgers, chief medical officer, Medichecks, said: “Remote blood testing has the potential to reduce strain on healthcare systems and focus service provision to where it is most needed.
“Widening access to diagnostics and digitising services is long overdue. COVID-19 demonstrated that the delivery of medical care via digital channels actually works, and most importantly, is more accessible and convenient for patients.
“We know there were fears that expanding remote healthcare testing would fuel health anxiety and increase the burden on already stretched services, but our data shows the opposite is true.”
A three-month NHS trial involving the supply of 37,000 CE-marked finger prick blood tests to volunteers in England, resulted in 94% of recipients rating their experience with Medichecks as good or excellent.
Supporting flexible diagnostic testing as a service, Plasma is delivered through an intuitive digital portal that can plug into existing system APIs. Customisable branding, communications and white label packages are available through the portal.
Earlier this year Macmillan Cancer Support invested in Neutrocheck – a portable device and app centred around an at-home finger prick test to detect neutropenic sepsis in cancer patients.