Water testing for patient safety

Pseudomonas and legionella testing for WCS Water and Air, part of Marlowe Environmental Services 

The issue 

WCS Water and Air, part of Marlowe Environmental Services is a leader in business critical services. They work with industry and the public sector to provide safe, efficient compliance for water treatment, air hygiene and water management.    WCS Water and Air worked with a new UK based hospital with a need to test for legionella and pseudomonas quickly and efficiently in order to safely open the hospital to patients. They had a large number of samples to test in a short time so required a lab partner with:      • A large and efficient laboratory to manage the sample volumes required    • The flexibility to collect and test a large number of samples during the weekend    • Accreditation so testing would comply with industry standards 

The solution 

Normec Latis Scientific was able to meet WCS Water and Air’s requirements as a lab partner. We provided a personal, flexible approach that was agile and reactive to WCS Water and Air’s needs.    Normec Latis Scientific’s flexibility allowed WCS Water and Air to deliver results to the hospital under extreme operational constraints. Over 9 days, 2,500 samples were analysed for pseudomonas and legionella, 750 of these were analysed outside of normal working hours. The flexibility of our logistics allowed thousands of samples to be taken and delivered to our UKAS accredited laboratory within the timeframe required. 

The results 

The speed and flexibility of our laboratory allowed the hospital to open safely by the deadline set. WCS Water and Air also experienced:      • A fast and efficient solution that maintained the integrity of the samples taken    • Confidence in the results by using a UKAS accredited laboratory    • Reduced human intervention so manual input errors were minimised by electronically submitting samples