Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Workforce And Living With COVID

The New Zealand Institute of Medical Laboratory Science (NZIMLS) would like to clear up some misconceptions that have been raised in the past month about the competence and ability of our diagnostic laboratory scientists working within the diagnostic laboratories in Aotearoa New Zealand.

"It is easy for those outside of the diagnostic laboratory testing environment in Aotearoa New Zealand to instantly blame those who are working tirelessly on the front line for inherent system policy issues outside of their control" says Terry Taylor the president of the NZIMLS.

Prof David Murdoch and Dr Ayesha Verrall, in both the Rapid COVID Testing report and in the media, have reiterated just how critical and outstanding the workforce on the ground has been for the frontline pandemic testing response for the people of Aotearoa New Zealand. There is a specific commendation within the report for frontline staff that acknowledges this and finishes with the statement "This report should not detract from the sterling performance of laboratory staff and others working on COVID-19 testing during the pandemic".

"Our on the ground diagnostic laboratory response has clearly been the one shining example of how a large competent workforce can be channelled to provide a specific task quickly and effectively" says Taylor.

"The working parts of our testing capability during the pandemic have been sitting under everyone's eyes going about their job with not just COVID testing but all diagnostic testing " says Taylor.

Individual laboratories and staff on the ground have put in processes that have ensured our capability is both fluid and effective despite a number of daunting challenges. This is what we have done with every scenario passed our way in recent years. People just need to look at recent past medical events such as the Christchurch Mosque shootings, Whakaari White Island eruption, the recent Measles and ongoing syphilis outbreaks to how adaptive our workforce is. From mortuary technicians to our New Zealand Blood Service colleagues, all medical laboratory health professionals will continue to step up while other higher profile medical professionals continue to get the attention and national representation that our expert scientists don't.

As the Murdoch report has outlined, involving the innovative and outstanding pool of visionary diagnostic laboratory experts in positions of national governance is vital to ensure the successful implementation of any future diagnostic testing plan. Aotearoa New Zealand has a complex laboratory and regulatory environment that most health and policy managers simply don’t understand.

This involvement will clearly be able to transition to a role within the health services merge into Health NZ.

Those working in all levels of diagnostic laboratory service provision are once again ready to step up to the challenge to provide the certainty and adaptive change for the future diagnostic laboratory testing response.

"The ability to move between surge events and now to a testing environment living with COVID is not an easy ask but again we are up for this" says Taylor.

"The people of Aotearoa New Zealand can be assured that no matter what the future COVID testing environment is, our pool of expert scientists will work within the future plan that moves us into our new normal of living with COVID" says Taylor.

Robust testing coupled with high vaccination rates are the vital components of the diagnostic and surveillance testing plan for living with COVID into the future. The NZIMLS will continue to support positive initiatives and provide an expert advisory role to ensure the laboratory professionals working on the frontline are recognized for their integral role within the continuing pandemic response.

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