The Pathology team at the Trust is made up of medical staff and scientists, who are responsible for analysing patient samples to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of disease. Pathology is involved in over 70% of all diagnoses made in the NHS; the services at DBTH offer over 400 different types of diagnostics and perform over four million tests per year.
Completing the ‘ISO 15189:2012’ accreditation is a lengthy piece of work, beginning with an application to UKAS and continuing through rigorous pre-assessments and on-site reviews. During this process, hospital laboratories are asked to show that they can meet key safety and competency standards, which they do via a series of meetings, interviews and observations. If applicants can suitably evidence that they fulfil all criteria, the accreditation is then awarded.
The journey takes a significant amount of coordination, which is why it is usually pursued on a department-by-department basis. Confident in its service, the Trust decided to do it in one go, submitting the entire Pathology service for review in 2018.
Speaking about this achievement, Paul Gravil, Head of Pathology Services at the Trust, said: “This is an outstanding outcome, proving that we comply with defined standards and best practice. Although getting to this stage has been an immense task for the service, that effort has clearly paid off and I am incredibly proud of the team for making it possible. This is truly DBTH Pathology at its best!”
The achievement has many benefits, one being that it gives patients confidence that the hospital can deliver a reliable Pathology service with up-to-date technology and qualified staff. Meanwhile, it also demonstrates that the Trust is committed to improvement and reducing risk wherever possible and that it has embraced nationally-approved ways of working. There are also advantages for the lab team itself, as they have been able to refine existing processes, ultimately improving patient care.
Richard Parker OBE, Chief Executive at the Trust, said: “The UKAS accreditation is a huge accomplishment for us and one that we will continue to build upon in the future as we continue to support innovation throughout our service. I would personally like to thank everyone in the Pathology team for all of their hard work. They are a real credit to their department and to the organisation as a whole.’’