Private lab joins the response
A private Hamilton laboratory has stepped up to help the massive Covid testing response.
As of Thursday there had been 250,246 tests – an average of about 5000 a week – putting pressure on the country’s district health boards.
Hills Laboratory is now helping the Waikato DHB by analysing their daily surplus. They are one of only three nonDHB laboratories across New Zealand approved to test for Covid-19.
The private lab, founded in 1984, is New Zealand’s largest privately owned analytical laboratory. It supplies a broad range of tests to domestic and international markets in agriculture, environmental and food. And now Covid-19.
When the country went into level 4 lockdown the laboratory’s board started asking if there was an opportunity to be involved, CEO Jonno Hill said.
‘‘We’ve not done this type of testing before. So initially we didn’t feel optimistic or think it was a strong opportunity, but we reached out to the DHB through a range of contacts we have, and we eventually met with the hospital lab managers.’’
After a visit and some talks, it was realised that the company could help. ‘‘In order for us to get into this space we need their support and their clinical oversight, so we’ve been working together for the last few weeks.’’
The first 20 samples arrived on Thursday, and would take the staff twoand-a-half hours to turn around.
‘‘We’ve got a daily available capacity of at least 1000 samples a day and there is potential to increase that quite significantly.’’
Hill said another advantage the lab had was having the required equipment ready to go.
‘‘We were fortunate that we had the
had been thrown together figured out how to make things work efficiently, initially working on a paper-based system before switching to an electronic one.
Twenty-five people came from a variety of backgrounds – DHB staff, Mana Kids nurses who usually go into schools in the fight against rheumatic fever, Plunket nurses, school nurses.
‘‘Our staff were keen to start each day with a prayer, which we did every single day,’’ says McIntosh. ‘‘It was a nice way to start the day off, acknowledging we had to look after each other too.’’
That was particularly important at the start – people were losing sleep with worry. A lot of care was taken to ensure everyone was safe, and that appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) was worn. But, still, in the early days people were anxious to make sure they didn’t pick up the disease themselves, or take it home.
‘‘And of course the people coming in were scared too,’’ says McIntosh. ‘‘Everyone displayed that differently – some people were angry, some people were upset.’’
Around the northern region (Northland, Waitemata¯ , Auckland and Counties Manukau) more than 100,000 tests have been carried out since February, most at CBACs. Initially, there were 14 in metropolitan Auckland, most set up in just a couple of days. There were also five mobile clinics in the region.
McIntosh says in those early days, there was an eerie feeling. ‘‘It felt like a disaster response — we didn’t know what the future held.’’ required equipment already on site in the lab because of this related molecular testing we are doing. So that was lucky and it meant that we could
be up and running much more quickly than if we needed to order the equipment and bring it in.’’
One of those who has been instrumental in helping this project work is Dr Eilidh Mowat, who leads the Hill Laboratories molecular biology team in Hamilton.
She says staff were excited to be involved. ‘‘Absolutely, because it’s basically helping New Zealand with the pandemic, and we felt confident that we’ve got all the right controls in place. It’s also a new testing service for us making other revenue avenues for the company.’’
They have commandeered a room and three staff members have so far learned the process.
‘‘We choose the most experienced staff in molecular methods. Once we get a better handle on the sample