Local MP for Eastbourne, Stephen Lloyd has paid a visit to the pathology department at Eastbourne DGH and met with doctors, scientists and technicians working in Pathology and toured the laboratory.
The Trust’s pathology department performs around six million tests each year. Virtually every patient’s diagnoses or monitoring of their condition, is undertaken through some form of pathology test which includes analysis of tissue, cell, and body fluid samples. There are around 60 people working in the hospital’s pathology department, and they are supported in their work with some of the most technologically advanced analysers which help to turnaround tests quickly. This includes around 2,500 tests each day for GP practices across East Sussex.
Stephen Lloyd said: “It was absolutely fascinating to visit the pathology department, not least to learn of the sheer scale of tests and biopsies the department undertakes. I am Type 2 diabetic for instance, and I discovered they perform around 600 tests a day to monitor and diagnose diabetes. Overall the department conducts, across the whole trust, an astonishing 6 million tests a year for all the different tests they do. I learnt a lot from my visit and was enormously impressed by what I saw. Thank you to Dr Joel Newman, their head and Jacquie Munroe, one of their lead scientists, for showing me around the department.”
Dr Joel Newman, Consultant Haematologist and Trust Pathology Clinical Lead said: “We were delighted to be able to show Stephen the wide range of tests we undertake in our laboratory, to help diagnose and monitor a patient’s disease. We have benefited from significant investment in our laboratories recently and are rightly proud of the range of tests we are able to offer, and the speed at which we are able provide results.”