North Wales regional lab set for 24hr 7-day-a-week operation as Minister defends decision to locate all six new ‘hot labs’ in South Wales

The regional lab in Rhyl is set for expansion to a 24 hour a day, seven day a week operation, however it appears it will not be able to turn around results inside four hours like new ‘hot labs’ created elsewhere in Wales.

At yesterday’s Welsh Government Ministerial briefing we asked the Health Minister Vaughan Gething about the announcement around six new ‘hot labs’ that his government described as being ‘across Wales’.

The ‘hot labs’ are being located at acute hospitals and will have rapid, under four hour, testing equipment and new testing equipment for other conditions to free up staff to work on COVID-19 testing. They will operate from 08.00 – 22.00, seven days a week.

The announcement did include funding for new staff and equipment for the Public Health Wales regional laboratory based at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Rhyl that opened in May, so it can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to cover North Wales. Prior to the Rhyl resource opening swabs were being couriered south for testing.

As the locations of the hot labs announced were all in the south, we pointed out to the Health Minister that the most northerly lab was due to be 30 miles away from where he was taking questions, and asked what was the reasoning behind that location, and did North Wales have equivalent resources and specifically if it had a four hour turn around capacity already.

The Minister replied,  “It does mean we look to the picture across the whole country where our population centers are, it also means that of the three regional centers, Rhyl being the one for North Wales, there is an increase in lab capacity there that should meet the needs of the people of North Wales.”

“That’s the point, we’re making sure has to meet the needs of people in every part of the country.”

Although not mentioning four hour turn around, he said: “That lab in Rhyl will be 24 hours a day seven days a week.”

The Minister added, “We are moving equipment from other centers in Wales to go to Rhyl to make sure that it’s properly equipped, and there will of course, be further recruitment to make sure that center is able to provide that 24 hours a day, seven days a week service.”

“So I think people in North Wales are getting a deal that is equivalent to any and every other part of Wales. As I said earlier, I’m not just responsible for North Wales, I’m responsible for the whole country, and I take my nationwide responsibilities seriously. I would certainly not make a decision to de-prioritise the needs of people in North Wales, far from it, I think actually the announcement made today about that one of three regional centers taking place, in the middle of North Wales is good news for people who live in North Wales.”

Below, the map of the new ‘hot lab’ four hour turn around locations: