In an effort to meet European Quality Assurance (EQA) requirements and simplify regulatory compliance, The Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester has procured six blood gas analysers.
The equipment, from Radiometer, is connected using the Radiance system, which provides 24-hour monitoring to ensure instruments work properly. Radiometer’s QA Portal has also been installed to monitor the alignment of instruments.
Colin Dickens, manager of the biochemistry department at the hospital, said: “The QA Portal’s worldwide data check gives us confidence that our analysers are aligned among themselves and among their peers, by allowing us to compare our QA data with that of other laboratories worldwide. This enables early detection of any subtle changes that may occur, giving users peace of mind and providing reassurance that our analysers are performing correctly. We still participate in WEQAS but, as we know that our analysers are well aligned, we do not need to submit data from every instrument. We now perform EQA on just a single, representative analyser, which provides a cost-effective means of meeting the demands of CPA regulations.”