Health is a crucially important social and economic asset and a cornerstone for human development. Whilst the provision of universal health coverage remains a major global challenge, the use of accreditation within the health and social care sector can help drive up the quality and consistency of services provided.
Medical laboratory services are essential in the diagnosis and assessment of the health of patients, and encompass arrangements for requisition, patient preparation, patient identification, collection of samples, transportation, storage, processing and examination of clinical samples, together with subsequent result validation, interpretation, reporting and advice. Results need to be accurate, timely, linked to the correct patient and processed with respect for ethics, confidentiality and the safety of the patient.
Accreditation to the internationally recognised standard ISO 15189 enables laboratories to demonstrate their competence to deliver these services reliably.
Also:
- Point of Care Testing - where testing is carried out outside the controlled and regulated environment of a medical laboratory, to enable patients to still be able to trust the results
- Reference material producers - to demonstrate that they are competent to produce necessary reference materials (such as blood, urine or serum), allowing laboratories to verify their ability to measure accurately
- Medical reference measurement laboratories to enable the accuracy and traceability of some measurements in medical laboratories to be demonstrated
- Accredited certification to ISO 9001 for organisations that provide of health and social care services to demonstrate continuous support to quality
- Accreditation of inspection bodies inspecting health related services
- Medical devices under accredited certification to the international standard ISO 13485 demonstrating manufacturers address regulations and have commitment to safety and quality
