Welcome to SMTL

Introduction

The Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory (SMTL) is part of the Welsh NHS, funded by the Welsh Government, and based at Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, part of NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP). Our core service is to provide medical device testing and technical services to the Welsh NHS, enabling Procurement Services for NHS Wales and others in the NHS to undertake evidence based purchasing.

SMTL has an international reputation, especially regarding surgical dressings, as many test methods for these devices have been developed by SMTL, or in conjunction with SMTL.

SMTL also provide commercial testing services to the international medical device industry, who use the reports to tender for new business, submit to notified bodies and to develop new devices and technologies.

In summary, SMTL

• provides medical device/pharmaceutical testing, QA and technical services to:
  • the Welsh NHS
  • the medical device industry
  • other UK Agencies (DoH, MHRA)

• has a comprehensive range of facilities and test equipment to enable us to:
  • test medical devices and demonstrate compliance with European and International standards
  • perform comparative testing on competitor’s products
  • develop innovative test methods for novel products
• is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence for testing disposable medical devices, whose reports are accepted and respected worldwide.
• is involved in standards development such as gloves, gowns & drapes, dressings, and luer/non-luer connectors.
• have developed a number of methods which are published as British or European standards, or pharmacopoeial monographs.
• has published widely on areas such as dressings and wound management, latex allergy, medical gloves, silver dressings, and safer sharps devices.
• is accredited by UKAS to ISO 17025 the international standard for testing laboratories.

Test Method List

A full list of our current testing services is available. More detail on each of the tests can be found in our Testing Services section.