The Thoracic and Sleep Group Queensland (TSGQ) is a privately operated organisation run under the direction of Dr Andrew Scott and his team out of the Wesley Hospital. TSGQ conducts both sleep and respiratory testing in house to provide personable yet quick results for GPs and other referring specialists nationally.
NATA spoke to Dr Scott on their successful accreditation and what it means to the industry, their practice and, importantly, respiratory disorder patients.
“Our unit was the first private hospital sleep lab accredited with NATA. The value of this service has been integral to our service’s development and maintenance of work. This galvanised our mission to have our respiratory service meet the same expectations of excellence. As such, we reached out to NATA beginning conversations to learn more about the new accreditation program within the respiratory field,” said Dr. Scott.
TSGQ was attracted to the new program in part due to their own focus on internal and external audits and their contribution to scientific and clinical services ensuring they always meet the highest standards.
“Having targets to maintain the quality of our services ensures accountability to our referrers whilst enhancing patient pathways and care. Holding NATA accreditation also ensures accountability for our service to continue excellent patient care,” added Dr Scott.
Dr Scott believes his staff, patients and referring doctors will now develop further as they continue to set a high standard of care.
“The accreditation and its inherent requirements, means greater consistency in respiratory testing, interpretation and thus overall patient management,” believes Dr Scott.
The assessment process for the accreditation was conducted under NATA’s globally recognised peer review process, ensuring an unbiased and objective focus on the requirements of the standard.
“The NATA assessors were meticulous in their work which reflects the quality of NATA audits,” said Dr Scott. “Ongoing communication throughout the process also ensured everyone was on the same page and set expectations for what was required. The NATA team and assessors appeared as one professional unit that worked together to evaluate our clinic.”
He added:
“The scientific, medical and administrative processes were well thought through with clear and concise implementation before, during and after our audit. The feedback provided was clearly explained throughout the onsite visit to staff which allowed open discussion with the assessment team and therefore more effective implementation. I highly commend the assessment team for their level of commitment, vigour and care.”
From an industry perspective, Dr Scott believes all clinical and scientific services including respiratory should strive toward a level of care that is expected by everyone.
“As NATA Accreditation expands across multiple disciplines, it is important to bring the respiratory field onto the same level.”
You can learn more about the TSANZ/NATA Respiratory Function Laboratory Accreditation Program here