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5 Specialist Haematology This specialist area monitors all the haemophiliacs in Tayside, as well as anticoagulant therapy, coagulation function, other factor assays involved in regulating blood flow throughout the body, platelet function, and lupus anticoagulation. It also screens for hereditary red cell disorders such as sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemias, and is involved in the antenatal screening programme. The team supports a vast point of care department that allows for fast effective tests at or very near the patient including at warfarin and diabetic community clinics and even in patients’ homes. These tests are carried out to the same laboratory standard as the analysers at Ninewells and PRI and allow for better dose control and more efficient patient management as the results can be acted upon almost immediately. This, in turn, can help reduce complications and admissions to hospital. Immunophenotyping Immunophenotyping is a very important specialist service as it is the area which diagnosis leukaemia – cancer of the blood. There are many different types of leukaemia and it is the job of the biomedical scientists in the Immunophenotyping lab to distinguish exactly what type of white blood cells are there so that so the clinician can treat the patient accordingly. Immunophenotyping is a technique used to study the protein expressed by cells to identify numbers and maturity stage of each cell. We then interpret patterns of these cells to suggest a diagnosis. Each test takes between two and three-and-a- half hours to perform, depending on what type of leukaemia is suspected. ‘One spoke in the wheel of Blood Sciences’ Haematology is the medical study of blood Around 70% of all healthcare decisions affecting diagnosis or treatment involve a lab test Blood Sciences processes 6,500,000 tests per year – this number rises annually by 5% It takes just 60 seconds for billions of blood cells to be counted from a patient’s sample on a haematology analyser for biomedical scientists to examine An army of biomedical scientists work 24/7 365-days- a-year at Ninewells and PRI to provide essential lab tests and a 24/7 haematology registrar and consultant are also available for medical advice NHS Tayside’s haematology lab is a registered training laboratory and work includes lecturing at Abertay University and placement for students studying Biomedical Science NHS Tayside has the largest population of haemophilia B patients in Scotland Nearly 7% of human body weight is made up of blood A newborn baby will have one cup of blood in its body Did you know? Perth Royal Infirmary team