A LOCAL laboratory has become the first private lab to fall in line with new regulations under an amendment to the 1949 Public Health Act.

Somerset-based C & S West Ltd. was granted accreditation by an American body ? an achievement that will soon become routine, as labs phase into practice stipulations under the Ministry of Health & Family Services' 2002 amendment to the Public Health Act 1949.

As understood through the Public Health (Clinical Laboratories) Regulations 2002, Bermuda labs must be accredited or in the process of receiving accreditation by a body approved by the Minister in order to be officially registered to practise.

"This is something the Ministry has been trying to do," explained the lab's owner / supervisor, Karen Bremar. "They're trying to get all laboratories in Bermuda on the same playing field. One of the ways of doing that is to make sure that everyone has accreditation. It's one of the regulations that has been outlined in the Public Health Act ? accreditation by an outside agency. And that's what I've done. I've achieved that and, to my knowledge, I'm the first to achieve accreditation.

"The accreditation by COLA means that all testing performed on the island by C & S West Ltd. meets the standards of community hospital laboratories, physician office laboratories and similar establishments that are not licensed to perform surgery."

Mrs. Bremar's accomplishment was yesterday praised by Government's Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann.

"She has, on her own initiative, pursued accreditation," he said. "She actually started this process before we'd actually introduced the legislation and so she is to be applauded for that ? for focusing on quality assurance. I would believe that Minister (of Health Patrice Minors) is very pleased that this has taken place.

"We of course, are delighted that she's been successful in achieving accreditation and, within a time period of, hopefully, two years, we will have all of our labs on the road to being fully accredited or very, very close."

C & S West Ltd. received its accreditation through consistent adherence to the stringent regulations set by the Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation (COLA) ? a non-profit, physician-directed organisation which operates to promote quality and excellence in medicine and patient care through programmes of voluntary education, achievement and accreditation.

The group was founded to help laboratories meet Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) requirements and to provide educational tools for staff.

Approved by the federal government, it is also recognised by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Organisations and is sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Society of Internal Medicine, the College of American Pathologists and the American Osteopathic Association.

A national organisation, it grants accreditation only to those laboratories that "apply rigid standards of quality in day-to-day operations, demonstrate continued accuracy in the performance of proficiency testing, and pass a rigorous on-site laboratory survey," said a company spokesperson.

"C & S West Ltd. has earned COLA accreditation as a result of a long-term commitment to providing quality service to its patients."

Mrs. Bremar said C & S West Ltd., which she established in 1991, is one of ten or 15 private laboratories in operation on the island. The labs' services are spread between four disciplines, with C & S West Ltd. the sole one devoted to microbiology, the study of infections.

"There are four different disciplines ? microbiology, haematology, clinical chemistry and anatomic pathology," she explained. "The labs outside King Edward VII Memorial Hospital do haematology and chemistry. I'm the only one that does microbiology outside of the hospital.

"Basically, what I do, is screen for sexually transmitted diseases and also urinary tract infections. The doctor takes a specimen in his office, we process it, and then give him a report based on our findings.

"And what we've done is become accredited through COLA ? an accreditation company that is based in the States. In order to gain accreditation, they have to come in and inspect your laboratories. They have guidelines. They have standards. They basically say your lab has to do A, B and C and they come in and check all your records.

"You have to have everything documented. They have to be able to see that everything is done in the correct way because as far as they're concerned, if you don't have it documented, it's not being done."

Even without Government's push for accreditation, Mrs. Bremar said she believed it a positive move for the island.

"It's a good thing for residents and it is important for the labs. The public has that assurance that, when going from lab to lab, they're all on the same page. They know that on a scale of one to ten, one lab isn't operating at a level of ten, and the other at two. You have basically everyone the same."