IBMS in Scotland - a report from 2016
The delegates received reports on the many activities taking place across Scotland – from journal clubs and quizs run by IBMS in Scotland branches to the work of the IBMS in Scotland Training Forum.
IBMS in Scotland Training Forum aims to share knowledge and develop training in biomedical science, especially in relation to the IBMS’s portfolios and qualifications.
The forum held a number of meetings bringing together training officers from all disciplines and across all NHS Scotland health boards. A workshop was provided in which IBMS specialist diploma examiners and potential examiners could prepare to undertake their role and share experiences of their roles.
The forum also delivered Train for Trainer (TfT) refresher workshops for workplace trainers across Scotland and collaborated in mapping the new IBMS registration training portfolio with newly revised HCPC standards of practice.
The Scottish Quality Managers Discussion Group held a spring and winter meeting. At the spring meeting keynote Speaker Paula MacDonald’s talk ‘TPS 51, ‘A small document with a big impact’ was well received and provoked some discussion. This was followed by discipline specific break out groups where delegated discussed issued relevant to their laboratory discipline.
November’s meeting saw a number of talks on accreditation for the Public Health Wales Microbiology Service, UKAS assessment visits and measurement of uncertainty across different laboratory disciplines.
Two Quality Awards were made this year. The Healthcare Scientist award went to Ashley McKean from the Microbiology laboratory in Kirkcaldy whose entry ‘An Evaluation of the Efficacy of Expired Absorbent Trigene Granules’ concluded that the granules were not affected by the expiry date.
Joy Cahill’s entry ‘How One Change Resulted in Several Quality Improvements’ described the improvements seen as a result of installing slide printers in the Pathology Department at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary won the Biomedical Scientist category.
The committee decided to offer sponsorship to biomedical scientists undertaking the IBMS Certificate of Expert Practice in Quality Management. The committee agreed to sponsor Margaret MacDonald who works in a remote lab in the Western Isles, and hope to make this a regular award with the aim of encouraging people who might not be able to fund the course themselves.