Building confidence via accreditation at the UK’s largest blood gas service

Improving clinical outcomes at the point of care

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Accreditation vison

South West London Pathology (SWLP) is a single, integrated pathology service covering 3.5 million people across South West London.

POCT Manager and Network Lead, Haval Ozgun, initiated the process of becoming an accredited point-of-care testing (POCT) service in 2019, aiming to maximise patient safety and improve patient outcomes.

Selecting a blood gas solution to support accreditation

Choosing the right blood gas analysers with connected IT systems and customer support was pivotal to successfully establishing POCT governance.

The right analysers would have a tangible impact on patient care, particularly for certain patient groups.

Haval explained, “Radiometer’s ABL90 FLEX PLUS analysers were the right choice for us. For example, the small sample volume of just 45 μL is very important for neonatal patients and ideal compared to the 125 μL that other systems need.”

We also wanted our clinicians and other users to have a high level of confidence in our POCT service. Additionally, standards mitigate any risks to patient safety and errors that may lead to litigation, which can often arise from faults, or lack of governance and quality assurance.

- Haval Ozgun, POCT Manager, Network Lead SWLP, UK

How accreditation advantages SWLP

In 2021, SWLP’s POCT service achieved accreditation in partnership with Radiometer.

Maximise patient safety
Improve patient outcomes
Gain clinicians’ confidence
Support expansion of POCT services into community settings

On the benefits of accreditation, Managing Director at SWLP, Simon Brewer, explained how being recognised as “a robust…firm…safe…and quality service, definitely allows us to be able to build with confidence”.

Today, SWLP is an effective, patient centric POCT department delivering high quality, accessible diagnostics.

Radiometer provided a very high standard of technical and engineering support which all really in-creased the availability and uptime of blood gas analysis across SWLP…Radiometer’s [help with the] in-stallation of the analysers, training and ongoing support was a big factor in achieving our accredita-tion.”

- Haval Ozgun, POCT Manager, Network Lead SWLP, UK

Haval Ozgun, POCT Manager, Network Lead

South West London Pathology (SWLP), United Kingdom

A partnership set up by St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Croydon Health Services NHS Trust
Services include Cellular Pathology – Cytology and Histology, Clinical Blood Science – Hematology, Blood Transfusion and Biochemistry, Immunology and Medical Microbiology
SWLP’s clinical blood sciences and microbiology laboratories operate 24-hours a day, every day of the year

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