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Pathology Services are of the Highest Quality
Written by Communications Team   

Independent audit confirms pathology services at Ashford and St Peter’s are of the highest quality

Pathology services at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust have once again received a top quality stamp from the Clinical Pathology Accreditation (CPA) office.

The CPA is an independent organisation whose remit is to assess pathology services against measures of good practice and quality. Following a thorough inspection at the Trust during September, the CPA has once again fully accredited all the hospital’s pathology services. 
 

 
Staff working at the pathology lab at St Peter’s Hospital
 
 
Divisional Director and Consultant Haematologist, Dr Andrew Laurie commented: “This is a great achievement for the Trust and means our patients can be assured that the quality of our pathology services is extremely high. We are the only NHS pathology provider within the Surrey and Sussex area to be fully accredited in all services and, as Divisional Director, I am particularly proud of the commitment and hard work made by our staff. When patients are waiting for test results, it’s important that these are turned around quickly and efficiently and this accreditation confirms just how well we are doing that. The assessment also covered our phlebotomy and blood transfusion service, the pathology reception and the hospital mortuary, all of which are important areas contributing to patient care.”

The inspection carried out during September involved a team of 11 assessors under the leadership of a professional inspector, who spent a total of 32 man days closely examining the processes employed by our laboratories. They also spoke with users of the service (other hospital departments, GPs and local healthcare providers) who commented on their satisfaction with the service and how responsive it is to their needs.

The pathology department at the Trust performs in excess of 5 ¼ million tests a year on behalf of local patients, through the hospital, their GP and other local health providers.

This success closely follows an earlier report from the Regional Quality Assurance team for cytology who recognised the outstanding quality of service offered by the Trust’s cytology and colposcopy services, and the achievement of full compliance with standards set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (responsible for the safety of medicines and medical devices) and the Human Tissue Authority for our histopathology laboratories and the mortuary services.


Pathology services at the Trust include:
  • Biochemistry - the study of the chemical composition of blood and other body fluids, which helps in diagnosis and treatment of a whole range of diseases including diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, cancer and hormonal (endocrine) disorders.
  • Micro-biology – the study of micro-organisms including bacteria, fungi and viruses, helping to diagnose and treat infections such as meningitis, TB and HIV.
  • Cytology - the study of individual cells (excluding blood cells), helping to diagnose cancers, especially cervical cancer.
  • Haematology and blood transfusion. Haematology is the study of the blood and this service helps in the diagnosis of anaemia, leukaemia and many blood diseases, including bleeding and thrombotic disorders. The blood transfusion lab performs blood group tests on patients (including antenatal patients) and selects and matches blood products ensuring their safe transfusion.
  • Histopathology – the study of diseases of tissues and organs, providing essential information to clinicians in the process of diagnosing cancer and other diseases.
  • Mortuary services.
Last Updated ( Friday, 19 November 2010 16:50 )