THE Pathology Department at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been praised after a national accreditation assessment.
The Pathology team at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, has gained and maintained accreditation to internationally recognised standards following a recent visit from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
Staff were praised for their professionalism after receiving feedback from the team of independent assessors.
The laboratory team undertakes more than 6,000,000 tests a year on a range of samples that support the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, infectious and other diseases. This ensures that patients receive a safe, high quality, timely and effective service.
Mark Wrigley, Directorate Manager, said: “Gaining accreditation to ISO 15189:12 standards has been a fantastic team effort with every member of staff participating.
“The assessors were very complimentary of the departments and gave very positive feedback. They said staff were professional, knowledgeable and competent with excellent documentation backed up by assurance from audits and corrective action plans.
“The directorate is delighted to have been recognised for achieving such an important quality standard.
“It’s testament to their considerable efforts in constantly striving for quality and above all, accuracy, in their work. We are very proud to display the certificates in Pathology reception.”
The laboratories each experienced a rigorous two day inspection which focused on all aspects of the quality management system including training, competency assurance, laboratory technical processing, internal quality testing and bench-marking against national quality assurance schemes.
Each laboratory will undergo UKAS surveillance visits once a year to verify that the standards are not only maintained but to ensure that there is an active continuous improvement programme in place.
UKAS accreditation of medical laboratories provides assurance for commissioners, service users and patients that tests are being verified by an independent, impartial third party organisation to ensure consistency and quality of results.