Gisborne Hospital Report - Health and Disability Commissioner

Gisborne Hospital 1999 – 2000
PSA Testing Procedures
to allow more in-depth review of laboratory standards, and a closer monitoring
of claimed improvements by the provider in the quest for re-registration.
Communication
8.12 Communication between all levels of management and technical staff must be
improved. This is perhaps the key recommendation to ensure that the
biochemistry section of the laboratory provides a reliable service on an
ongoing basis. Problems will recur if there is a continuation of the
dysfunctional relationship evident in the past.
Reagent / Calibrator / Control Supplies
8.13 Reagent suppliers (not just Abbott Industries) should put checking systems in
place that ensure that calibrators being sent to a laboratory match the type of
reagent kitset normally supplied to that laboratory. Questions should be asked
if it is not obvious from the order form why the laboratory is deviating from its
normal ordering pattern.
8.14 The laboratory also needs to put a checking system in place so that all
reagents, calibrators and controls are confirmed and signed off by a senior
technologist as being the correct items before they are made available for use
in the laboratory.
Response to recommendations
8.15 Tairawhiti District Health has accepted all the above recommendations and has
either already implemented them or is in the process of doing so. The
exception is recommendation 8.13 as Tairawhiti District Health believes it is
“an impractical requirement for a reagent supplier and that systems should be
in place in laboratories that would make such a procedure unnecessary”.
IANZ
8.16 THL viewed IANZ as the “primary watchdog for community safety” through
its accreditation and assessment processes. I believe this view would be
shared by other public hospitals and by many in the health sector, including
government agencies. It has become clear in the course of my investigation
that, in light of IANZ’s limited statutory role, this confidence may be
misplaced. I recommend that the Minister of Health review the current
regulatory framework (including the Testing Laboratory Registration Act
1972) in order to ensure that consumers are adequately protected.
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