15 January 2021

Despite working under intense pressure during the last few months, the Microbiology laboratory team at Frimley Park has successfully passed its UK Accreditation (UKAS) inspection. 

The accreditation, known as the national ‘badge of quality’, was awarded following a full inspection at the lab in early December. The amazing achievement was a result of a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication from the biomedical scientists and medical laboratory assistants, as well as the pathology quality team, managers and clinical support staff.

The laboratory is known as the hidden science. Working behind the scenes, the team processes around one 1 million samples a year at Frimley Park for a number of hospitals, including Royal Surrey and Ashford St Peters.

David Garner, consultant clinical microbiologist, said: “This is a phenomenal achievement, not only were the team dealing with the added pressure of covid, which had a massive impact on our local infectious diseases diagnostic service, but they had also just switched to a new automation system and rolled out the laboratory information managements system. They are one of those departments where no one realises what goes on behind the hatch in the corridor, but this UKAS award reflects how well they are doing their jobs and the recognition is truly deserved.”