§ Dr. LadymanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made by the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals NHS Trust to achieve Good Laboratory Practice accreditation in respect of pathology services. [17788]
§ Mr. BoatengWe understand from the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals National Health Service Trust that the departments of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Clinical Biochemistry, Microbiology and Haemophilia applied for Clinical Pathology Accreditation in February 1997. Provisional approval was granted and a formal inspection is scheduled for January 1998. The Trust is also striving towards the attainment of the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standard.
Clinical laboratories generally seek accreditation by Clinical Pathology Accreditation (UK) Limited (CPA) rather than GLP accreditation. The former was developed specifically for clinical laboratories, whereas the latter is much more relevant to laboratories involved in clinical trials work.
§ Dr. LadymanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made by the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals NHS Trust to address the recommendations of the 1995 report Review of Pathology Services at Kent and Canterbury Hospitals NHS Trust. [17787]
§ Mr. BoatengWe understand from Kent and Canterbury Hospitals National Health Service Trust that the report highlighted a number of specific departmental issues to be addressed
Of the 17 general issues, 12 have been fully implemented, five partially implemented.Of the seven Haematology issues, four have been fully implemented and three partially implemented.Of the five Chemistry issues, two have been fully implemented and three not implemented (these require further dialogue with neighbouring Trusts).Of the six Microbiology issues two have been fully implemented and four not implemented (these require further dialogue with neighbouring Trusts).Of the seven Histology issues, two have been fully implemented, four partially implemented and one not implemented (this requires further work by SKHT).The overall recommendations (options) were as follows:
- 1. The options of doing nothing or of sending the work out to an external agency were rejected by the trust as being impractical and not in the best interests of the trust.
179 This was accepted by the trust. - 2. Although refurbishment of the current Pathology facility would be possible we believe that this exercise would only lead to a moderate and intermediate term improvement in Pathology services, at relatively high cost. It is also clear that it would not be possible to perform all those Pathology functions that ought to be carried out on site in the refurbished structure.
This was not implemented by the trust, as refurbishment was not a cost effective long term solution.- 3. The most appropriate way of improving Pathology services is to plan and construct a new Pathology facility on site. This ensures the provision of an essential service and this development would have the potential of attracting technical and medical staff of the highest calibre. There would also be significant opportunities in marketing Pathology services externally as the development, once established, would be exceptionally competitive.
This was not implemented by the trust, for reasons outlined under 2, and demonstrated ability to recruit staff at high calibre.- 4. A new development would incorporate the latest technologies in term of automated equipment and robotics, which would significantly reduce day to day costs. This would also enable a full assessment of staff functions and skill mix to be performed.
This was not implemented by the trust, for reasons outlined under 2 and 3.The refurbishment was completed in April 1997. Refurbishment addressed outstanding Health and Safety issues and enabled the Pathology laboratories to apply for Clinical Pathology Accreditation (CPA). CPA was then considered desirable by the local purchaser and became a requirement from April 1998.
§ Dr. LadymanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been published by the Pathology Services of the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals NHS Trust, other than the Haemophilia center, since 1995. [17790]
§ Mr. BoatengWe understand from Kent and Canterbury Hospitals National Health Service Trust that Medical and Scientific staff employed by the Trust Pathology Directorate have published in a variety of national and international journals since 1995.
In addition, presentations at national meetings by staff employed within the Pathology Directorate have been published in abstract form. My hon. Friend is advised to contact the Kent Postgraduate center at Canterbury for a complete list of current and forthcoming publications.
A full list of the recent publications will also be available in the Trust's Research and Development Annual Report, 1997.