Labtests Patient Survey Confirms Quality Care

4 November 2009
News release

Labtests Patient Survey Confirms Quality Care

Auckland community pathology provider, Labtests has today released the latest results from its ongoing survey of patients having their blood taken at collection centres, which confirms the quality care being provided.

Over 1100 patients have now participated in the survey with 74 percent rating the service as good or excellent and less than one percent reporting poor service.

Healthscope’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael Coglin said along with the patient feedback survey, Labtests has worked cooperatively with the DHBs to develop an extensive set of hard-wired KPIs across all aspects of the service, and these are the measure of performance of Labtests service and the evidence upon which confidence will be built over time. Labtests is the first pathology provider in Auckland to publish its performance against KPI’s and the full report will be out by November 16.

“Labtests has been publishing key KPI performance data for several weeks and is very pleased that any discussion on the performance of the service will now be transparent, measurable and evidence based,” said Dr Coglin.

The company has also been asked today to comment on a meeting last night where a reported 35 of 4620 practitioners Labtests serves were present. Dr Coglin says that the company will not entertain agendas that seek to influence and intervene in the contract between Labtests and the ARDHBs for the provision of community laboratory services.

“The low turn-out confirms ProCARE’s comments at its meeting with Labtests on 21 October that ‘there is a large and growing number of GPs who are satisfied with Labtests service’.

“Labtests is focussed on addressing the concerns of general practitioners and will continue to work with individuals, practitioners, clinics and representatives of primary health organisations on the basis of integrity, good faith and an un-distracted commitment to quality patient care.”

In the past 24 hours, there has been reference made to Labtests misleading the DHBs with regard to quality and safety. Labtests and Healthscope have at all times acted in good faith and allowed the DHBs full visibility into its operations and quality and safety systems.

On 2 July 2009 the DHBs conducted an audit of Labtests that reviewed the quality and technical systems prior to the laboratory formally commencing business. The audit report complemented Labtests quality management systems.

The robustness of Labtests quality and safety systems is also demonstrated in an pre-assessment report by IANZ in July 2009, which stated that "Labtests readily met the expectations of accreditation in relation to the required components of a Quality Management System".

The IANZ report also stated that "Labtests had established a comprehensive quality framework in which all aspects of an effective Quality Management System were either in the process of being developed or had already being implemented.”

ENDS

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