The safest way to travel

28 Mar 2019, 3:59 p.m.

Illustration of the sample chutes at GOSH

Did you know that across the hospital, within the walls, floors and corridors, patient blood samples whizz from our wards to the labs, via the chute, where they’re processed and used for diagnostics?

In the blink of an eye, every lab sample is propelled through a network of tubes. In a hospital the size of GOSH, making good time means better medicine, and the chute is an important part of a complex chain that gives our doctors timely lab results they need to make decisions about our patients.

The clock starts ticking as soon as a sample is drawn, and our lab team relies on every ward getting samples to them as quickly as possible. The chute system has a complete set of checks and balances – sensing where containers are needed and sending them. It also controls the airflow to slow down the containers for a soft landing at their destination.

NIHR launches £13.7m investment into brain tumour research

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has announced a £13.7 million investment that will support ground-breaking research to develop novel brain tumour treatments in the UK.

New consortium aims to help improve care for arthritis patients

A new UK-led research group, including Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London, aims to improve the lives of children, young people and adults with arthritis by defining for the first time what being in ‘remission’ from arthritis truly

Great Ormond Street Hospital joins the Circular Economy Healthcare Alliance (CEHA)

By joining CEHA, Great Ormond Street Hospital reaffirms its commitment to ‘do no harm’—not only to our patients, but to the environment and future generations.

‘Ready-made’ T-cell gene therapy tackles ‘incurable’ T-Cell leukaemia

A groundbreaking new treatment using gene-edited immune cells, developed at GOSH and UCL has shown promising results in helping children and adults fight a rare and aggressive cancer