CANCER patients in Herefordshire can now benefit from new advanced technology recently introduced at Hereford County Hospital histopathology department, which will revolutionise processing of diagnostic cancer specimens and assist in patient cancer diagnosis.

Wye Valley NHS Trust is one of the first hospitals in the region to introduce this latest technology which will assist in the more rapid detection of cancers including breast, kidney and colon.

The laboratory can process patient tissue samples within 14 hours, half the time of the traditional method which is speeding up patient diagnosis. The new equipment is also used to process large tissues, which would previously have taken up to 48 hours to process.

Andrea Johnson, histopathology manager at Wye Valley NHS Trust, said: “This processing technology is significantly advanced for use in histopathology and we are delighted to secure this for the benefit of our patients to provide a quicker diagnosis.

“We’re also able to process more samples within the same time frame due to its efficiency, and test larger pieces of tissue more quickly for difficult to detect carcinomas, types of cancer, to determine future treatment and prognosis for patients.

“The next step is to use this new technology to enable quicker turnaround times for urgent tissue biopsies, to provide same day diagnosis.

“This is a significant development for the department and will assist in the transformation of the local diagnostic pathway of cancer in Herefordshire”.

The new technology comes as figures reveal the number of scans used to diagnose cancer dropped by more than a quarter as the coronavirus pandemic hit hospital services at the Wye Valley Trust.

A pause on non-urgent treatment, a shortage of radiographers and a reduction in people coming forward for tests are said to have affected scans across England.

Teams at Wye Valley NHS Trust performed more than 11,000 fewer imaging scans between March last year and February in comparison to the same period in 2019-20, NHS figures show.

Imaging tests that can be used to diagnose or detect cancer were carried out 28,745 times during that time - a 28% drop.

The number of brain MRI scans fell by 21% while there were 28% fewer chest x-rays performed and a drop of 36% in ultrasounds of the pelvis and abdomen.