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Written question asked by Countess of Mar (Crossbench) on Wednesday, 10 February 2016, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 24 February 2016. It was answered by Lord Prior of Brampton (Conservative) on Wednesday, 24 February 2016 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Lyme Disease

Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to relocate testing for Lyme borreliosis away from the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory; and if so, when they expect the move to take place, and whether the new laboratory will be ISO 15189 accredited at the time of the transfer.

Answer

The Department of Health, Public Health England (PHE) or NHS England do not hold information about which laboratories are and are not International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15189 accredited. A list of accredited laboratories is held on the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) website and is the definitive list of accredited laboratories to which the Department, PHE and the NHS refer. Accreditation is covered by the Clinical Pathology Accreditation (CPA) company until recently, and is now part of the UKAS scheme.

There is no intention to transfer the Lyme disease testing service from the Rare & Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL) to another laboratory. RIPL as a department will move from the Porton site as part of the PHE relocation scheduled to commence in 2018 but no decision on the exact date has been made. RIPL is scheduled to transfer to ISO 15189 in late summer 2016, when the ISO inspection team review the tests offered by the laboratory under ISO 15189. Until that time, the laboratory is operating under CPA in accordance with the transition process laid down by ISO.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL6111
Session
2015-16
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Standards Screening Laboratories Lyme disease Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk