“Quality Managers’ Group”
Eric Martindale
Quality Manager
Microbiology, Greater Glasgow & Clyde

“Bubonic plague…” or
“Quality Management …”

Summary of QM career:
Eric Martindale (anag)
Cried at terminal
Trained miracle
Manic lad … RETIRE!

Quality Managers’ Group(s)
 IBMS SQMDG
If time permits:
 Institute of Quality Assurance (Now CQI)
 Directorate QM group
 International contact (S Africa)

Quality Quotes
“Teams achieve things that individuals cannot.
Engage with a team and don’t try to do it on your own. Never be afraid to ask for help.”
Sir David Brown,
First President of CQI

Scottish Microbiology Group
 Ninewells
 Fife
 Inverclyde
 South Glasgow
 Golden Jubilee
 North Glasgow
 Yorkhill
 Edinburgh Royal
 Aberdeen
 Hairmyres

Microbiology issues
 Anonymised spot tests (Hartlepool) or
Repeat testing (Addenbrooks)
 Quality control (how much?)
 Q-Pulse / Lab Passport
 Audit of waste to destruction
 Diagnostic devices, CE marking (media?)
 Quality management systems & CPA

SQMDG Committee
Eric Martindale (Chair) Glasgow, Micro
Donna Galloway (Sec) Dundee, Multi
Olga Greenan (Treasurer) Kirkcaldy, Micro
Caroline Devlin, Glasgow, Genetics
Lynne Doverty, Aberdeen, Pathology
Bruce Harris, Edinburgh, Multi
Chris Hind, Dundee, Haematology
Neil Fraser, Aberdeen, BTS
Ian Rothnie, Inverness, Biochemistry
Betty Kyle, Monklands, Haematology
Mark Gilmour, Dumfries, Multi

Quality Quotes
"There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit"
Robert Winship Woodruff, founder of Coca
Cola

SQMDG Discussion Issues 1
 Document control (software)
 Customer focus (surveys)
 Audits … how many?
 Controls … how far?
 CPA assessments

SQMDG Discussion issues 2
 Risk management / register
 Escalation of unresolved NCs
 Plans & Objectives, AMR
 Training, competence, KSF
 Analysis & Improvement
 Difficult people

Quality Quotes
“That quality at the end of the day is a human commitment”
W E Deming

SQMDG overview
 Meets in May (informal) & November
 Delegate database 80+ (60 – 80 attend)
 IBMS accredited (funding / CPD)
 CPA recognised
 Appears to be “Fit for Purpose”
 GOOGLED!

Lecture Topics e.g.
 Document control
 Incident / Error reporting
 Audit / Audit training
 Agenda for Change (JD for QM)
 QM education
 CPA, PAC, Regional Assessors
 Behaviour

Staff “Our best asset”
 Annual joint review
 Hassle free workplace (CANDO)
 Seek ideas (Q-Pulse, Initiatives)
 “Open door approach”
 Staff questionnaire (JIS)
 When did you last surprise your staff?
 “Get a raging epidemic of enthusiasm”

TRUISM
Best asset? (IIP)
REALITY
Our best asset
Customer focused
2/3 Are non-engaged
Majority have no connection

The “Quality Way”
 Confrontation
 Independent
 Qualified
 Quotas
 ‘Atmosphere’
 Cooperation
 Interdependent
 Competent
 Satisfied customers
 Relaxed

SQMDG Next event
 Quality: Luxury or Expectation
 Professional portfolio for the QM
 The Risk revolution
 Litigation – a sign of the times
 Customer surveys – an electronic approach

Successes?
 Standardisation of:
Methods, templates, checklists, schedules.
 Professional recognition
 Network. Training Officers (spin-off)
 Web page: Presentations, reports, book reviews, questionnaire analyses, events
 Sharing GLP

Clinical audit
Positive B/C results phoned to ward:
Of 118 calls only 72 were recorded in case notes.
Calls to nursing and medical staff which were
NOT recorded were 61% and 39% resp.
In 12% advice on management was not followed with no reason or record of the advice recorded in case notes.
Results forwarded to Risk Management

Quality Quotes
"In God we trust - all others supply data"
W E Deming

SQMDG Improvement
 Better directions to event
 Dietary considerations (gluten free etc)
 Audibility
 Independent equal access
 “Increase the frequency of these events”
 More discussion time!

Quality Quotes
"To be successful, all you have to do is work half days; you can either work the first twelve hours or the second twelve"

SQMDG May
 Perth Royal Infirmary Conference Suite
 One guest speaker (hot topic)
 Discipline specific discussion groups
 Lunch
 Discipline specific discussion groups
 Plenary session (for all)
 Committee: Assessment & actions

Referred to CPA
 There shall be separate storage … (C4.1)
How separate is separate?
 Must we time & date receipt of samples
(E5.1c)? CPA had suggested auditing.
 Referral labs and CPA status etc (E6.1e). If lab is CPA accredited can we assume EQA
& turnaround time are acceptable?

SQMDG November
 Glasgow (17 th Nov)
 Evening meal (previous night)
 Three presentations
 Lunch
 Two presentations
 Plenary session
 Committee: Assessment & actions

SQMDG review
 Committee meeting
 How did we do?
 Review questionnaires
 Formulate actions
 Electronic presentations
 IBMS webmaster, Alex Cochrane

Institute of Quality Assurance
(IQA)
Kwik Fit (Tom Farmer)
“Critical friends” (Educationalists)
EQ - The emotional quotient
Customer focus
Leadership (Peter Lederer, Tourist Board)
Motivation for change (Jack Black)
IIP

Quality World (IQA)
What makes a good document?
BSI, LRQA, DNV:
 Readily accessible
 Concise, clear & unambiguous
 Account for competence
 Not set in stone, amend/improve (dynamic)
 Consider flowcharts, hyperlinks

NG Directorate QM Group
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Biochemistry (Vi Gibbons)
Haematology (Graham Walker)
Tissue typing/Immunology (Paul Foley)
BTS (Robert Boyd)
Microbiology (Eric Martindale)
Nursing (John Stuart)
Pathology (Linda Mackinnon)
Risk management (Julie McQueen)
Virology (Ian Howe)

Directorate issues
 Specimen (labelling / transport/ delivery)
 User group questionnaire(s)
 CPA accreditation
 Order Comms (electronic requests)
 Clinical Risk Management (error reporting)
 Library for JBL (discipline availability)
 IT & Q-Pulse (new version)
 Waste disposal audit to destruction

User Group Questionnaire
 Multi-disciplinary … 2006
 One A4 page questionnaire
 On coloured paper (addressed envelope)
 Scoring system to allow comparison
 Give feedback from previous questionnaire
 Analyse. Learn & improve.
 Report results (good & bad) to all lab staff.

Quality Quotes
"Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night"
Leo Aikman

S. African experience
 23 labs in KwaZulu Natal
 Audited against ISO 15189
Areas of NC:
 Processes and written SOPs at variance
 No evidence of management involvement
 Corrective but not preventive action
 Lacking trend analysis / improvements

Quality Quotes
God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed;
Give us the courage to change what should be changed;
Give us the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
American theologian.