Rapid Lab-Free UTI Test Enters First Use in Care Home Setting

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) frequently lead to hospital admission and antibiotic use among older residents of UK care homes. Diagnosis can be challenging when classic urinary symptoms are absent, particularly in people with dementia or cognitive decline. Delays in confirming infection can prompt empiric broad-spectrum antibiotic use, complicating antimicrobial stewardship. To support more timely treatment decisions, a near-patient testing approach is now being applied to guide UTI care at the point of decision.

Genefluence has begun using its rapid, near-patient polymerase chain reaction (PCR) platform for urinary tract infections (UTIs) at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The lab-free test identifies UTI-causing bacteria and detects specific antibiotic resistance genes, providing accurate results in around one hour compared with the days typically required for laboratory urine culture.

The company’s Lab-in-Cartridge system uses a disposable cartridge to extract genetic material from the sample. The cartridge is inserted into a portable analyzer, which performs the full sample-to-result process. This laboratory-free workflow allows healthcare professionals to use the platform in care homes, general practitioner surgeries, hospital wards, and other care settings.

The platform builds on technology developed at Imperial College London and Genefluence. Originally created for consumer DNA testing, it was adapted in 2020 into a lab-free COVID-19 test deployed in NHS hospitals. That test underwent clinical validation in a study led by Imperial College London and published in The Lancet Microbe.

The Royal Hospital Chelsea, a registered charity and historic retirement home for British Army veterans, was among the original sites to use the COVID-19 test based on the same technology. Its use of the UTI platform extends that experience to another clinical application. Genefluence also stated that its UKCA-marked diagnostic portfolio includes UTI testing, CYP2C19 testing to support clopidogrel treatment decisions in stroke, and DPYD testing to identify patients at increased risk of severe toxicity from fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy.

“Diagnosing a urinary tract infection in an older person can be challenging, and antimicrobial stewardship means we must avoid inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Waiting days for a culture result, or pre-emptively starting an antibiotic in the hope that it works, is not optimal,” said Dr. Fergus Keating, Principal General Practitioner, Physician and Surgeon at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

“Genefluence's technology gives us a reliable answer in around an hour – including whether key resistance genes are present – so we can begin effective treatment immediately and avoid unnecessary prescribing. For all elderly and vulnerable patients, fast and accurate results mean getting better sooner, fewer side effects and, crucially, being able to stay well at home rather than going into hospital," said Dr. Keating.

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