Laboratory automation firm Automata has welcomed government investment in diagnostics, but has called for funding to be funnelled into the right technology.
Following the UK government’s 2021 budget, which committed to spending an additional £248m over two years to digitise diagnostics, Automata has stressed that “no technology is more impactful than automation”.
The London-based company added that robotics and automation is now more efficient and cost-effective than ever before, and it is already successfully being used in the NHS. For example, HPV testing is now fully automated, reducing the number of staffed laboratories around the country from 46 to eight.
Automata are already working with a number of pathology labs to help them meet diagnostic challenges using automation. It deploys total workflow automation system to pathology labs and Covid-19 testing facilities who were constrained by their operating environment, whether that was due to space, time or manpower.
The company’s goal is to transform the lives of patients and it believes that the automation of diagnostics can make a difference. Automating diagnostic processes can empower NHS labs to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to reduce the time patients are currently waiting to receive test results and begin their care journey.
Automata’s content manager, Caitlin Stanway-Williams, said: “If the Prime Minister and his government truly want to build the NHS back better, it is time for them to consider how robotic automation can be integrated into the healthcare system, particularly diagnostics.
“We cannot just settle for the status-quo and we cannot use this valuable investment simply to get back to where we were. We need to actively better the health system and future proof it long into the future.”
