Dubbo Base Hospital’s pathology laboratory has been ranked in the top 10 out of 520 laboratories around the world.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Orana Pathology Service has been ranked 10th best for quality assurance testing.
Orana Pathology Service director Professor Jack Hobbs said a mandated testing and inspection of laboratory results in Australia had resulted in the Dubbo laboratory being praised.
“Patients in Dubbo and the region can rest easier knowing their pathology tests are being done by skillful and experienced scientists, recognised by national and international standards,” he said.
“These people are responsible for the pathology tests performed 24 hours a day at Dubbo Base Hospital and for surrounding hospitals as well as doctors’ surgeries in the area.”
Dr Hobbs explained that the Dubbo Base Hospital pathology laboratory is required by Federal authorities under Medicare to submit to National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) inspection every three years.
Part of this examination is to examine the records of results for the previous three year period. This includes reviews of the performance of internal quality control programs and external quality assurance programs.
The external quality assurance programs are provided by the authorities for samples for each of the tests performed in the laboratory.
These surveys are required each two weeks in biochemistry.
The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPA) is the Australian authority for providing test samples - for some 600 laboratories in Australasia. Orana Pathology performs the QAP for both the RCPA and group Bio-Rad.
Bio-Rad supplies unknown samples to assay to approximately 520 laboratories throughout the world.
“Due to well documented evidence of excellent analytical performance, the OPS has been approached by both the RCPA and Bio-Rad to provide test results for each cycle to act with a select group to set the target responses,” said Dr Hobbs.
“Further, Bio-Rad has written indicating that in their ranking of the 520 laboratories throughout the world, Orana Pathology is judged to be number 10 out of that 520 on performance,” he said.
