Editorial

(Aotea News, December 2009)

Dr Karen Wood
Aotea Pathology
Chief Executive

Welcome to the 2009 spring edition of Aotea News. With the year nearly ended, I am reflecting on the sustained efforts of the practice in 2009 in helping deliver the right results at the right time to your patients.

Our recent referrer survey shows that 97 percent of respondents rate Aotea Pathology’s overall service as very good or excellent, up from 87 percent last year, a result we will be working hard to match in 2010.

Providing laboratory services is complex and often timecritical. Ensuring that everyone – collection staff, couriers, office, analytical lab staff and pathologists, are providing a quality and co-ordinated service is a core requirement and a constant logistical responsibility for Aotea. An example is the use of intraoperative frozen sections, which must reach us quickly, and be processed and reported on promptly, with an accurate or at least safe practical working diagnosis.

The turn-around time for test results is a key measure of performance. The referrer survey suggests that overall you approve of our service level, but we can see further room for improvement, and will continue to work on this.

Keeping on top of technological and professional knowledge and development in a modern pathology practice is crucial. Our staff, at all levels, are encouraged and supported to continuously develop their capabilities, to encourage initiative and keep our services at a high standard. Our graduate development programme, in-house Aotea lecture series and support for CPD assists this priority.

A major quality innovation has been the implementation of the electronic Real Time Audit system, designed to catch and alert us to medical data entry errors. This required significant resource, but the results have been worthwhile, reducing errors and saving staff time.

Thank you for working with us in 2009, and we look forward to continuing – and looking to improve on – that work in 2010.

We will all enjoy a short break in warmer weather. May I draw attention, with the arrival of summer, (written in hope so far) to our upcoming edition of Inside Aotea, our newsletter for patients, which has information on skin biopsies, and some tips on preventing solar damage. We hope it may be of use in your practices.

Best wishes for the festive season and New Year.