Dear Primary Care Colleagues,
We would like to remind you that further to our previous communication on 24/10/23, Beckton Dickinson discontinued manufacturing Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) tubes. The Trust pathology stores no longer provides ESR tubes for use in primary care.
We understand that some surgeries have made the decision to continue to offer in-house ESR testing. Alternative ESR tubes and measuring racks are readily available for purchase online or through the NHS supply chain (https://www.supplychain.nhs.uk/). Should your practice wish to continue offering ESR testing, please be aware that the responsibility for sourcing these supplies will fall upon your practice.
The product information for the Greiner tubes now used at Exeter and NDDH laboratories is as follows:
Please note a slight change to the reference ranges, from adopting the ESR Westergren measuring method quoted by Greiner, who now supply our tubes for secondary care.
If you wish to discuss this further, please contact the Duty Biochemist: rduh.biochem@nhs.net.
