KEY POINTS:
Waikato Hospital has been told to prove testing and reporting at its anatomical pathology laboratory are up to standard or face losing the lab's accreditation.
The laboratory does tests for cancer, blood, immune system disorders, and viral infections.
The ultimatum is understood to have been given to the
Waikato District Health Board by the laboratory inspection body International Accreditation New Zealand.
IANZ has ordered the hospital to show that its services are up to scratch or face having its accreditation withdrawn on Friday.
A meeting between IANZ and laboratory staff was held last Friday.
One of the 120 laboratory staff, who asked not to be named, said the situation was "perilous".
The source said that over the past three years the hospital had been told to improve the quality of its accommodation, facilities, and reports, but it had done nothing.
"If anything the accommodation we work in and the equipment have become more and more dilapidated."
Staff shortages were also a problem.
Cancer testing was one of the areas of most concern, as the laboratory had not produced quality reports in a timely manner.
"Cancer diagnosis is difficult and even the best practitioner makes mistakes, but having modern equipment and good systems at least reduces the risk," the staff member said.
Confidence in the laboratory would be undermined if accreditation was lost. "It's hard to lose accreditation, but it's even harder to get it back. It would be humiliating."
Some specimen testing would be able to be done without accreditation.
"It's not like the hospital would have to close, but we would not be able to perform certain types of testing."
Nobody had come to any harm as a result of the laboratory's work, the staff member said, "so we don't want to be too alarmist at this stage."
The laboratory allegedly did not comply with health and safety standards, including provision of adequate fire exits.
Six weeks ago, the hospital discovered its computer system was producing erroneous results. Up to 1700 medical reports were affected.
Health board spokesman Philip Renner said IANZ was being cautious, and it was incorrect to say the situation was not good.
"They would have shut down months ago if any patient had been at risk."
He said the IANZ directive did not cover all laboratory testing and affected only the work of four histologists.
The histologists had told IANZ they would not work with the computer system from next Friday.
The computer glitch was never a medical issue as the accuracy of information within reports was fine, Mr Renner said.
Accommodation of the laboratory had been a problem, Mr Renner said.
The wider hospital is having a $200 million upgrade.
Board chief executive Malcolm Stamp had recently directed that the laboratory's upgrade be brought forward in the schedule of work.
