Patients in Scotland are set to benefit from a new £90 million hospital laboratory.
Based at the Southern General campus in Glasgow, it is one of the most modern facilities in the UK and will enable groundbreaking research and pioneering treatments to be developed.
Facilities include a genetics laboratory, which is developing tests to allow treatments tailored to a patient's DNA make-up, a blood sciences department, which performs a wide range of analytical tests on blood samples, and a range of tests to aid diagnosis of medical conditions.
The lab is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to deliver diagnostic services for biochemistry, haematology, microbiology, genetics and pathology. It has a staff of more than 700 people, including medical staff, clinical scientists, biomedical scientists and technical assistants.
By centralising laboratory services in one place, samples can be processed quicker, so that patients get faster results.
Speaking as he officially opened the building, Health Secretary Alex Neil said: "This new facility will bring together a whole range of laboratory services under one roof and provide NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde with a modern purpose-built facility which will play a key role in supporting the New South Glasgow Hospitals Campus site.
"In addition, it will bring real benefits for patients, by providing faster diagnostic tests and through the development of pioneering medical breakthroughs.The completion of the lab building is just the first step in this exciting journey for patients across the west of Scotland.
"Centralising services for all ages on a single site will ensure that everyone can access the widest possible range of specialist services, and will also bring with it increased efficiency, shorter waiting times and better care."
The lab is just one part of the £842 million publicly-funded project which will see an integrated children's and adult hospital built on the site of the city's current Southern General Hospital.
With 1,109 beds, the adult hospital will sit alongside a 256-bed children's hospital, providing maternity, paediatric and acute services on a single site. The South Glasgow Hospitals Campus is part of a programme worth more than £2 billion which is being invested in improving NHS facilities over the next three years.
