Trust
Affiliations & certifications
Accreditation is the hard currency of trust in diagnostics — and the one thing worth checking rather than taking on faith. Here is what each kind means, and where we stand.
The entries below are placeholders, shown so the layout can be reviewed. None of them names a real accrediting body and none of them is a claim. Each will be replaced with the actual body, its certificate number and its expiry date once we hold the document. We publish an accreditation only when we can produce it.
Accreditations
- Placeholder — not a claim
Placeholder — national laboratory accreditation
Laboratory accreditation means an external assessor has inspected the laboratory against a published standard: how samples are handled, how analysers are calibrated, how results are checked before release, and how staff are trained and reassessed. It is re-checked periodically, not awarded once.
- Placeholder — not a claim
Placeholder — quality management certification
A quality management certification covers the organisation around the laboratory rather than the testing itself — documented procedures, records, complaint handling, and a defined route for correcting anything found to be wrong.
Registrations & licences
- Placeholder — not a claim
Placeholder — healthcare regulator registration
Registration with the healthcare regulator is the licence to operate a diagnostic facility. It covers the premises, radiation safety for the imaging equipment, and the qualifications of the staff who report your results.
- Placeholder — not a claim
Placeholder — radiation safety licence
Any facility operating X-ray, CT or mammography equipment is licensed and inspected for radiation safety, covering shielding, dose monitoring and the training of the people operating the machines.
Memberships & schemes
- Placeholder — not a claim
Placeholder — external quality assessment scheme
In an external quality assessment scheme, an outside organisation sends the laboratory samples whose results it already knows and scores what comes back. It is the only check that measures a laboratory against other laboratories rather than against itself.
- Placeholder — not a claim
Placeholder — professional body membership
Membership of a professional body binds our pathologists and radiologists to its code of practice and to continuing professional development, and gives patients a route of complaint independent of us.
Laboratory partners
- Placeholder — not a claim
Placeholder — reference laboratory partner
A small number of specialised tests are sent to a partner reference laboratory rather than run in house. Where that applies we name the partner and tell you before you book, not after the report comes back.
What these words mean
Four terms get used interchangeably in this market and they do not mean the same thing. Knowing the difference is most of what you need to judge any laboratory, including this one.
Accreditation, certification, registration — what is the difference?
Accreditation is an external assessor judging technical competence against a published standard: whether the laboratory can actually produce a correct result, checked by inspection and re-checked periodically. Certification covers the management system around it — documented procedures, records, and a route for correcting anything found wrong. Registration is the licence to operate at all, granted by the health regulator. A laboratory can be registered without being accredited, which is why the words are worth separating.
How do I verify an accreditation for myself?
Ask for the certificate number and the scope, then check it against the issuing body's own public register rather than taking the certificate at face value. Scope matters as much as the certificate: accreditation is usually granted for a defined list of tests, not for a whole building, so a laboratory can be genuinely accredited for some of what it offers and not for the rest.
What is external quality assessment?
An outside organisation periodically sends the laboratory samples whose correct results it already knows, and scores what comes back. Internal quality control checks a laboratory against itself; external quality assessment is the only routine check that measures it against other laboratories. It is one of the more meaningful things to ask about.
Why does this page say nothing is confirmed yet?
Because it is not, and we would rather say so than show you a badge we cannot produce a certificate for. This page will list each body, its certificate number and its expiry date once we hold the documents. Until then it explains what the words mean and what we can already tell you about how the laboratory runs.
What we can tell you today
True now, regardless of which certificates arrive.
- Every report is released only after a qualified pathologist or radiologist has reviewed it.
- Analysers are calibrated and quality-controlled each day before patient samples are run, and an out-of-range control stops the run rather than being noted and worked around.
- Critically abnormal results are telephoned through to you, and to your doctor where you have given us their details.
- Where a specialised test is sent to a reference laboratory, we tell you before you book.
Ask us anything about this
Call 0312 38 99 99 and ask what we are accredited for. It is a fair question and you should get a straight answer.