Quality assurance systems in NHS pathology services need to be updated and less focused on minimal acceptable standards, a review of pathology services has recommended.
A recent report, the Pathology Quality Assurance Review has called for greater transparency, better safety checks on testing, and standardisation of processes and procedures to improve outcomes for patients.
Led by Dr Ian Barnes, chair of NHS England’s Pathology Quality Assurance Review Board, the review found current systems to be ill equipped for future needs and focused on minimal acceptable standards, providing little in the way of sanctions when laboratory performance declines.
“Elements of the system have become outdated,” Dr Barnes said. “Quality must be scrutinised and made transparent, skills must be updated, and roles and responsibilities must be formalised.”
However, the review highlighted that NHS pathology services are operating to a good standard, comparing favourably with the rest of Europe.
The report makes several recommendations, including:
• Commissioners to take a more active approach to managing contracts with their pathology providers, to ensure that they are of high enough quality to serve and protect patients and offer value for money consistently across the country.
• Roles and responsibilities for maintaining and improving quality should be formalised, and testing and reporting methods be standardised.
• A sharper focus on strengthening existing structures should be developed, rather than introducing new layers of management, and that these practices should be embedded in provider governance and assurance framework.
Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, commissioned the review in December 2012 following reports of inadequate assurance processes at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The NHS Confederation worked closely with NHS England to provide a Trust-level view of assurance procedures on the ground, bringing together chief executives, medical directors and non-executive directors to identify where improvements can be made.
