The RCPath Achievement Awards were developed to celebrate excellence in practice and promotion of high standards in pathology education, training and research and to deliver the best in patient care. These awards complement the existing schemes that celebrate public engagement and research. There are 5 RCPath Achievement Awards – 4 team awards and 1 award for the category of sustainability.
On 18th of June last the Bon Secours Tralee Histology laboratory was successful in winning the award category for sustainability. Both Laura Clifford (Chief Medical Scientist, Histology) and Ignetious Makozhombwe (Medical Scientist, Histology) were present at the awards ceremony in London to receive the prize.
The Bon Secours Hospital Tralee Histology laboratory team based in Tralee, County Kerry, set out to reduce chemical consumption, clinical waste and electrical consumption.
The laboratory processes approximately 20,000 cases per year, using two tissue processors. Previously, all reagents used in the tissue processors were disposed of weekly. By implementing the reagent manager system, only the first station was changed weekly. All other reagents were moved on by one container, enabling the recycling of reagents. Validation was completed by running duplicate samples on the tissue processor with the reagent manager system in use, and one using the old system. Stained slides were assessed using the UKNEQAS staining criteria.
Following a period of monitoring, the team carried out education on waste segregation. Furthermore, the ‘on’ time of two embedding centres was optimised.
The project led to a financial saving of nearly €37,000 per year for the laboratory. There were also huge environmental benefits, as well as health and safety improvements. The project has the potential to be scaled up, yielding proportionally greater savings in a larger laboratory.
