Cytology team leads the region

When Jade Goody was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer in February this year, the Trust's Newmarket-based cytology lab's workload almost doubled, and they had to work weekends and nights to achieve the target of 80% of results within four weeks.

 

But the team, led by Roseanna Bignell and serving women in the Addenbrooke's, West Suffolk and Hinchingbrooke catchments, faced an even greater challenge. For the past year, they've been part of a DH pilot to see whether labs can deliver results to every single patient within two weeks, or 50% within seven days.

 

Not only did they meet the deadline, they did so magnificently, screening a remarkable 99.8% of pap smears within seven days. Now they're in a position to help four other labs within East Anglia to improve their targets by taking on extra work.

 

"Women worry when they wait for their results," says deputy lab manager Joy Bishop. "By improving the turnaround times, we're stopping women worrying. Although these seem like small figures, it all adds up for our patients."

 

But doesn't working faster lead to more mistakes, more misdiagnosed pap smears?

 

"We're not working faster, we're working smarter," says Roseanna Bignell. "We would never compromise quality to achieve targets. Each individual is closely monitored, so we're measuring the quality and accuracy of our results all the time."

 

To achieve this, the lab worked with Susie Peachey from the NHS Improvement team. They shuffled their staffing, set up a no-holds-barred suggestions board, stuck up "scores on doors", trained six new technicians, cut out unnecessary duplication, and even tidied their work stations. "By questioning what we actually do, every day, we made these savings," says Joy.

 

A longer version of this article appears in the October/November issue of Matters, out late September.

> Matters

 

 

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