Fwd: Lab accreditation for water testing?

[Michael Wishart]

[Posted on behalf of member – Moderator]

Hi Michael,

I dont think that you are being pedantic at all. If the lab is not NATA accredited, then you have no idea what you are getting from them, and if the results are valid. NATA exists for a reason, and that is to give a person purchasing services from a provider the reassurance that those services will be of good quality.

If they are NATA accredited, then you know they follow proper processes and training, adhere to relevant standards, have knowledge in the area they are working in and have proper quality control for the methods they are using for your samples. Environmental microbiology/testing is not the same as pathology/human microbiology and testing. But if you really wanted to use your local lab, they could get it added on to their NATA scope as an approved method with proper controls and validation, and then it would be fine.

You wouldnt send a patient specimen to a laboratory that wasnt NATA accredited, so I wouldnt have thought there would be any justification at all for sending your water samples to a lab that is not NATA accredited for the test you are doing if one is available given that a messed up result would impact many patients. How would you justify not using a NATA accredited laboratory in the resulting investigation after an incident?

Regards,

Sarah Bailey MSc, PGDip Med Myc
SENIOR CONSULTANT

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