CHFT has one of the fastest turnaround times in the country for a test which indicates the response to chemotherapy for breast cancer patients.

Oncotype DX is a clinically indicative test, approved by NICE, funded by NHS England, which allows the team to test patients to see if chemotherapy is the right option for them.

It takes 11 days to complete the procedure from start to finish, 3 days faster than the national average. Of the women tested 50% received a low score. This means 22 of those 47 patients tested between May 2015 and March 2016 have been spared chemotherapy treatment.

Jill Haigh lab manager for Histopathology said "Jo Dent and the oncology team assess the patient and request the test, after which the histopathology team ship the samples to San Francisco. The last step is receiving the report which takes 11 days compared to the national average of 14 days. This allows a better result for our patients and saves many from going through chemotherapy when they don’t need to.”

“We are very proud of this achivement and it’s all down to a hardworking, dedicated and reliable team made up of Dr Vidya Kumaraswamy, Katherine Tighe, Mel Hibbin, Julie Power, Lisa Hooper and Jill Ambler. We work to ensure we give our patients the best and quickest service possible.”