SMTL Blog
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Kickstart Employee - Jakob Morgan
The Kickstart Scheme is a government funded scheme to create new job placements for 16-24 year olds that are on Universal Credit. The 6-month placement aims to support the participant to develop the skills and experience they need to find work after completing the scheme.
SMTL participated in this scheme and we welcomed Jakob Morgan to the team back in March 2022 as an Administrative Assistant to help the backlog of scanning in the Office. SMTL are currently in the process of going electronic and are slowly going through all hardcopies of projects and scanning them into a central database. This is no small task and Jakob has proved a real asset to the team in getting way ahead of where our busy admin team could have got to at this point.
Jakob has written a message about himself as an introduction to get to know him a little bit more.
“Hi, I’m Jakob. I’ve been working at SMTL for about 6 months at the time of writing, initially coming on-board via the Kickstart scheme. I completed a bachelor's degree in Physics, and a master's degree in Medical Radiation Physics at Swansea University. My initial hope for the scheme was for it to provide me with experience, and potentially serve as an entry point for a career within the NHS. It has more than delivered on this, even enabling me to gain exposure to other areas of the trust, such as Velindre Cancer Centre. I’ve loved my time at the lab so far and look forward to this continuing!”
Jakob has now joined us through the Bank and his job role has altered to meet the needs of the service to Lab Assistant and will be assisting the Admin Office, QA and Physical Department in the future.
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Odour Control Wound Dressings
Deodourising wound dressings have been used for many years, however despite their widespread use, there is little objective data on their odour handling characteristics. The European standard EN 13726-6:2003 details a test method designed to assess the resistance of primary wound dressings to penetration by odours, however there are limitations with this method as few laboratories have the necessary apparatus to perform the testing. In addition, wound dressings are assessed in their dry state, which does not simulate clinical use, and therefore raises questions on its adequacy for providing a realistic clinical evaluation.
In 1998 Thomas et al. (J Wound Care 7;5) published an in vitro test method where both odour-adsorption and fluid-handling capacity are assessed together, and thus more realistically simulates the conditions of normal clinical usage. Over recent years the SMTL have developed this test to produce a validated method that determines the ability of wound dressings to absorb exudate and control odour in the wet state.
Please contact our Physical Testing Department info@smtl.co.uk if you require any further information or wish to discuss undertaking an odour control testing project.
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SMTL IP-5 Satellite Laboratory
SMTL have been based at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend for over 22 years. The facility has served SMTL well for many years, however due to unprecedented demand on testing services during the pandemic it was evident that additional capacity was required to manage the extra work whilst maintaining the UKAS accredited high level of service.
NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) have supported SMTL to expand its services by purchasing new equipment and establishing a new testing laboratory at Imperial Park (IP-5) in Newport. The new SMTL IP-5 satellite laboratory will complement the current SMTL facility at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, and will enable SMTL to test medical devices such as surgical gowns, medical masks and respirators for the Welsh NHS, UK Health Service and the medical device and PPE industry.
The SMTL IP-5 satellite laboratory is in the final stages of preparation and will be operational in Summer 2022.
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ISO 14001 Accreditation
NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) is committed to managing its environmental impact, reducing its carbon footprint and integrating the sustainable development principle into their day to day business. Annual surveillance audits are undertaken to assess continued compliance with the ISO 14001:2015 Standard.
The ISO 14001:2015 Standard places greater emphasis on protection of the environment and is the international standard for environmental management systems (EMS). An EMS consists of the policies, processes, plans, practices and records that define the rules governing how our organisation interacts with the environment. ISO 14001 also helps organisations of all sizes across all sectors make their day to day operations more sustainable. Sustainability can ultimately save money, improve brand reputation, engage employees and build resilience against uncertainty as well as the ability to rapidly adapt to change.
In recent years SMTL's Quality Assurance department have liaised very closely with NWSSP Corporate colleagues, in order to gather evidence and improve practice with the ultimate aim of achieving accreditation to ISO 14001. Thanks to the hard work and knowledge of our colleagues in NWSSP, following the last external annual inspection the scope of the NWSSP ISO 14001:2015 certification for its key sites across Wales was expanded to include SMTL.
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SMTL training laboratories in World Bank Project
The Surgical Material Testing Laboratory (SMTL) have been invited to participate in a World Bank project to expand the production of basic medical devices and personal protective equipment (PPE) around the world.
In support of the World Bank International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Global Health Platform, a Global Advisory Program on PPE was launched in 2020. The program’s main objective is to support the diversification of global supply chains for PPE and to work with manufacturers and governments in developing countries to increase the manufacturing and supply of quality PPE in those countries.
One critical knowledge gap identified is a lack of laboratory testing capabilities and knowledge on technical regulations and standards for medical devices and PPE across countries. To address this a PPE Benchmarking Technical Guide and Laboratories Capacity Building project is being implemented by the British Standards Institution (BSi) on behalf of IFC.
BSi have invited SMTL to conduct training sessions on medical device testing for a number of participating laboratories from Jordan, India and Vietnam. In addition, SMTL have also been invited to participate in the global launch ceremony for the publication of the Technical Benchmarking Guide for COVID-19-related PPE (June 2022). SMTL’s Technical Director Pete Phillips will be participating in a panel discussion providing insights into the challenges faced by laboratories as they relate to the global variations in PPE standards.
