POCT-for-Scot Blog 2 – “We know our destination but how do we get there?” 3rd November 2022

With very few sites having achieved ISO 22870 accreditation in England and none in Scotland, should Tayside push to be the first site or will we fall flat on our faces? We are obviously going to attempt ISO 22870 accreditation. And, if I’m honest, we deserve to We fought tooth and nail to get a governance group (at the behest of 22870) with all the relevant stakeholders and this has been critical in getting our name and our policies out  to the users.

And so, despite this group no longer being a requirement in the next version of the standard, we will not be giving it up as we finally have some clout. But...don’t tell the group members or they’ll not want to play anymore!

Where do we start? 

We have to make a few decisions before we even get going, the first of which is: what are we putting on to Scope? I’ve been the Senior BMS for Point of Care in NHS Tayside for almost 5 years and with that as a factor I only wanted to look at the services that have come into the department whilst I’ve been in post. 

The rationale for this is that I know that all the “UKAS-required” documentation is in place and is “up-to-date”. Anything prior to my commencement of this role may require retrospective validations or other pieces of work that may demand additional time and effort 

So, Jayne and I decide we are moving forward with Blood Gas analysers, Glucose meters and Ketone meters. It seems like a lot and it probably is but honestly, I think we’re ready and it’s time to bite the bullet. We’re choosing these because they are our newest devices and they are the bulk of our “day-to-day” so it seems only appropriate that these are the first to become accredited, giving the users, the patients and our team the confidence in the results that they are producing. After all, a Point of Care result is critical to the patient pathway and it has to be accurate.

The next decision to discuss is: are we going to have a pre-assessment visit or go straight-in with the full assessment? From a recent conversation about the process with our current assessment manager, I found that an advantage to the pre-assessment visit is that it can identify any gaps. However, it it is just as expensive as a full assessment and there is no guarantee that accreditation will be achieved after it.  However, it’s not a full assessment and it’s just as expensive as an assessment with no guarantee that you will achieve accreditation just because you’ve had it.

I think it’s clear what decision we made but just in case it isn’t,, we are choosing not to have a pre-assessment visit. Are we brave, stupid or confident in our abilities? Perhaps all three, but we do have a wealth of knowledge and a solid Quality team which we have faith in and are guided heavily by their expertise.

 With the big decisions made, we had better get started! 

Next stop, Gap Analysis - but I'll tell you all about that in the next post!

Robyn x