Pathology Quality Manual - About the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Pathology service

Sep 2, 2026

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Pathology Quality Manual for the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust pathology service outlines the laboratory’s structure, governance, and quality expectations. It describes the Trust’s regional service footprint, the Pathology Directorate’s placement within DCSS, and three core departments: Blood Sciences, Cellular Pathology, and Microbiology. It covers collaboration for microbiology, key quality policy themes, and general requirements such as impartiality, confidentiality, and patient-related requirements, followed by structural and governance requirements for laboratory operations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatDOCX

Pages41

Reading Time14 min

AccessFree to download

About the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Pathology service

About this document

Quality Policy

4 General requirements

4.1 Impartiality

4.2 Confidentiality

4.3 Requirements regarding patients

5 Structural and governance requirements

5.1 Legal entity

5.2 Laboratory Director

5.3 Laboratory activities

5.4 Structure and authority

5.5 Objectives and policies

5.6 Risk Management

6 Resource Requirements

6.1 General

6.2 Personnel

6.3 Facilities and environmental conditions

6.4 Equipment

6.5 Equipment calibration and metrological traceability

6.6 Reagents and consumables

PATHOLOGY QUALITY MANUAL About the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Pathology service The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust consists of a 600 bedded large district General Hospital, which provides its services on the Countess of Chester Health Park, and a 64 bedded Intermediate Care Service at Ellesmere Port Hospital. The Trust has almost 4,000 staff and provides a range of medical services to more than 445,000 patients per year from an area covering Western Cheshire, Ellesmere Port, Neston and North Wales. The Pathology Directorate is part of the Division of Diagnostics and Clinical Support Services (DCSS) and is located in the general wing of the main Countess of Chester Hospital site. There are three departments within the Pathology directorate: Blood Sciences, Cellular Pathology, and Microbiology. Blood Sciences comprises the disciplines of Clinical Chemistry, Haematology, Blood Transfusion and Immunology. Point of Care Testing (POCT) within the Trust is overseen by the Clinical Consultant Biochemist, Blood Sciences Operational Manager and Senior Biomedical Scientist. Cellular Pathology comprises the disciplines of Histopathology, Diagnostic Cytology and Mortuary Services. The postal address is: Directorate of Pathology Countess of Chester Health Park Liverpool Road Chester Cheshire CH2 1UL Tel 01244 365000 The Chester and Wirral Microbiology Service (CWMS) is part of the collaboration between the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (WUTHNFT). The laboratory and staff are managed by WUTHNFT. A team of Medical Microbiology consultants are employed and managed by the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795292" About the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Pathology service PAGEREF _Toc193795292 \h 1 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795293" About this document PAGEREF _Toc193795293 \h 5 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795294" Quality Policy PAGEREF _Toc193795294 \h 6 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795295" 4 General requirements PAGEREF _Toc193795295 \h 7 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795296" 4.1 Impartiality PAGEREF _Toc193795296 \h 7 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795297" 4.2 Confidentiality PAGEREF _Toc193795297 \h 8 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795298" 4.3 Requirements regarding patients PAGEREF _Toc193795298 \h 8 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795299" 5 Structural and governance requirements PAGEREF _Toc193795299 \h 8 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795300" 5.1 Legal entity PAGEREF _Toc193795300 \h 9 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795301" 5.2 Laboratory Director PAGEREF _Toc193795301 \h 9 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795302" 5.3 Laboratory activities PAGEREF _Toc193795302 \h 12 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795303" 5.3.1 General PAGEREF _Toc193795303 \h 12 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795304" 5.3.2 Conformance with requirements PAGEREF _Toc193795304 \h 13 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795305" 5.3.3 Advisory activities PAGEREF _Toc193795305 \h 13 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795306" 5.4 Structure and authority PAGEREF _Toc193795306 \h 13 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795307" 5.4.1 General PAGEREF _Toc193795307 \h 13 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795308" 5.4.2 Quality Management PAGEREF _Toc193795308 \h 14 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795309" 5.5 Objectives and policies PAGEREF _Toc193795309 \h 14 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795310" 5.6 Risk Management PAGEREF _Toc193795310 \h 14 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795311" 6 Resource Requirements PAGEREF _Toc193795311 \h 15 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795312" 6.1 General PAGEREF _Toc193795312 \h 15 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795313" 6.2 Personnel PAGEREF _Toc193795313 \h 15 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795314" 6.2.1 General PAGEREF _Toc193795314 \h 16 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795315" 6.2.2 Competence requirements PAGEREF _Toc193795315 \h 16 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc193795316" 6.2.3 Authorisation PAGE

FAQs

What is the Pathology Directorate structure within the Trust?

The Pathology Directorate forms part of DCSS and includes three departments: Blood Sciences, Cellular Pathology, and Microbiology.

How does the manual address impartiality and confidentiality?

It includes general requirements covering impartiality and confidentiality as part of the quality policy framework.

What topics are included under structural, governance, and resource requirements?

Structural and governance requirements cover legal entity, laboratory director, activities, authority, objectives and policies, and risk management; resource requirements cover personnel, facilities, equipment, calibration, and reagents/consumables.

Sep 2, 2026

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