Microbiology

Changes to Lewisham and Greenwhich specimen containers

Please see here for more information on changes that will affect LGT sites.

 

The microbiology department provides a comprehensive service encompassing the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control of bacterial, fungal and parasitological disease. With over 100 staff, including consultants, junior medical staff, biomedical scientists, clinical scientists, laboratory assistants and administrative staff, it provides a high quality and comprehensive diagnosis, monitoring and disease management service to our clinical colleagues and their patients.  

Biomedical scientists in the department undertake a wide range of tests including pathogen identification and antimicrobial susceptibility. Please see the User Manual for details of the full repertoire of tests offered and sample requirements. 

The medical microbiology team of consultants and specialist registrars are available 24 hours a day to provide clinical advice around patient management and result interpretation. The microbiology department collaborates closely with the infection prevention and control team, in the surveillance, control and prevention of infection in both secondary care and the local community. Teaching, training, audit, research and development are all actively pursued within the department.

There is a microbiology service provided across the Barts Health NHS Trust, Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. Please see the user handbooks provided for more information on these services. 

Alternatively refer to our Test A-Z.

Please visit UKAS.com for information on the accredited tests or refer to the schedules of accreditation provided below for UKAS number 8285.

For quick and easy treatment guidance following local policies, visit Barts Health MicroGuide, Lewisham and Greenwich Trust MicroGuide, Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Microguide. The application can also be downloaded onto your smartphone by searching MicroGuide and selecting the relevant trust. 

The Barts Health Microbiology service can be contacted using this email address: microbiology.bartshealth@nhs.net.

Antimicrobial susceptibility

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing guides clinicians in their choice of antimicrobial therapy. Results of susceptibility testing are reported when there is a reliable correlation between the results of in vitro susceptibility tests and clinical outcome.

Since 2002, susceptibility testing reports used the terms ’susceptible’(S), ‘intermediate’ (I) and ‘resistant’ (R) to classify the likely outcome if the organism is treated with a specific antibiotic. Susceptibility tests reported as ‘intermediate’ tended to be interpreted by clinical teams to mean ‘We are not really sure if this bug is susceptible to this antibiotic, so probably safest not to use it’. In light of this ambiguity, the definitions of S, I and R have been updated to S, D and R. 

The updated term ‘D’ is meant to be more directive, and indicates that the organism is susceptible , but that a higher than standard dose of antibiotic is needed.  

For further information, including a list of High-dose antibiotic regimens please refer to the Barts Health MicroGuide App (EUCAST 2021 changes to antibiotic susceptibility reports and dosing recommendations). The MicroGuide App is free to download from the App Store or from GooglePlay. MicroGuide can also be accessed from the Trust Intranet in the Medicines Management Guidelines
section. 

Further information around the rationale for the changes in susceptibility reporting can be found on the website of the European Committee for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST, https://www.eucast.org/newsiandr/)