Life is Better With CellNass - Northampton General Hospital
Interview with Jacqueline Smith – Interim Operations Manager for Histopathology – Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust.
At Northampton General Hospital the storage of a large amount of histopathology material, reaching back 25 years, was reaching crisis point – with cabinets placed along the corridor, on different floors and 15 minutes away in another part of the hospital. As space ran out, the only way to create more was to rotate older material once it passed 25 years of age. The situation came to a head when borrowed space elsewhere in the hospital was needed for a different purpose, leaving no option but to look for an alternative, long-term solution for archiving.
Deputy Head of Pathology Mary Pendleton started the process by contacting CellPath, regarding its CellNass service, having heard about its facilities through the CPA (Clinical Pathology Accreditation), and Jacqueline Smith continued with the communication when she took on the role of Histopathology Operations Manager.
“On auditing the CellNass facility in Wales I was struck by the efficiency of the whole process,” says Jacqueline. “It was 21st-century technology at its best. Compared to our situation there was so much room – it reminded me of a big superstore. I watched the whole process of slides being indexed and archived and was impressed by the speed and accuracy. Seeing the team in action was reassuring and gave me total confidence. During the visit we had complete access to the whole facility and all the staff were helpful and friendly.”
“Once the decision was made, we sat down and did the planning. The CellNass people really did their homework – asking lots of questions and assessing logistical issues they might face when removing our material. As a result, the uplift was perfect and there were no complaints from the outpatient area next door.”
“CellNass also helped us manage the remaining slides and blocks we hold on site, with more effective storage solutions that make it so much easier to find things. Each year we now remove a single year of material to CellNass, always leaving the last five years’ here in Northampton.”
“The support we received was first class and nothing ever appeared to be too much trouble to the CellNass team. Our challenge at the start of the process was to find a long-term solution – and when you’re forced to make a major change like this, you have to make sure it’s better than what you had before. With CelllNass we achieved this.”
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