Point of care testing: lateral flow technology and beyond

Abstract

For the last 50 years the pathology industry has been centralised and built around a strong skills base in laboratory medicine. Over recent decades, that skills base has been diluted as advances in technology have seen automation takeover many laboratory-based functions. These changes have, perversely, been driven by advances in medical science. With advances in medicine has come the demand for more intervention (testing) and the concomitant economic pressure to reduce the real cost of pathology testing as access is expanded.