Dr Raymond Chan is an innovator who leveraged the challenge of COVID-19 to create new ways of working.
While many microbiology labs chose to expand their existing molecular sections to add SARS-CoV‑2 testing capabilities and staff, Dr Chan went a different route.
He supervised the creation of a separate COVID-19 laboratory in another area of our Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) service that now runs independently with its own staff, resources and equipment. It minimised impact to routine Microbiology services, even when there were COVID-19 testing surges.
Dr Chan also helped implement rapid SARS-CoV‑2 diagnostic testing at Canterbury Hospital, which allowed emergency department patients and high-risk inpatients to be prioritised for testing. Results for these patients were available within one hour – 11 hours less than it would have taken otherwise.
The Head of our RPAH Microbiology and Infectious Diseases service is collaborative and supportive.
During the Delta outbreak, when staff were fatigued and overwhelmed by working split shifts within a 16-hour, seven-day-week service model, he returned to the bench, spending countless hours unpacking specimens and preparing them for testing. This single action made staff feel they were not alone.
Dr Chan reminds his team that for every sample there is a patient, depending on them for the right result at the right time.