The UK SMI steering committee recommends and endorses NICE accredited microbiology standards. The committee oversees working groups who are responsible for the laboratory, clinical and public health input to the UK SMIs. The working groups work with the Standards Unit and are accountable to the steering committee.

The Steering Committee and the working groups work with professional and public sector organisations including professional societies, UKHSA, and the Royal College of Pathologists to develop and endorse the standards.

The Standards Unit is responsible for the development of UK SMIs which is core funded by UKHSA to cover the running costs of staff, Steering Committee and three working groups. The running costs also include travel expenses for the chair, lay representatives and administrative costs of arranging meetings. Travel expenses for members are covered by their respective ‘partner organisations’.

UK SMI Steering Committee membership

The role of the Steering Committee chaired by Dr Albert Mifsud is to recommend and endorse NICE accredited microbiology standards. The Committee is also responsible for the strategic direction of UK SMI development. The Committee oversees working groups who are responsible for the laboratory, clinical and public health input to the UK SMIs. The working groups work with the Standards Unit and are accountable to the Steering Committee.

Chair:

Dr Albert Mifsud - (Consultant Microbiologist, Barts Health NHS Trust and Interim Clinical Lead, London Public Health Laboratory)

UK SMI Team:

Hannah Curnow – Information officer/Healthcare scientist

Ruhi Siddiqui - Head of Standards Unit

Rina Shah Desai - Standards Microbiologist

Shahmeen Ali - Healthcare Research Scientist

Vrinda Lobo – Technical Support Officer

Zainab Sebbar - Healthcare Scientist

Members:

Dr Alison Watt - Chair of the UK SMI Virology/Serology Working Group. Northern Ireland Microbiology Forum and Audit group

Prof. Angharad Davies - Microbiology Society

Dr Chris Settle - Healthcare Infection Society

Dr Deborah E. A. Lockhart - Association of Clinical Oral Microbiologists

Ian Cocking - Institute of Biomedical Science

Jonathan Turner - UK Health Security Agency

Dr Justin Pachebat - British Society for Parasitology

Dr Katie Jeffery - British Infection Association

Kenworth Vaughan - Lay representative

Lewis White - British Society for Medical Mycology

Dr Lim Jones - Public Health Wales

Prof Mark Fielder - Applied Microbiology International

Mark Prescott - United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)

Dr Mark Wilks - Society for Anaerobic Microbiology, the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine and British Society for Microbial Technology

Dr Matthijs Backx - British Society for Medical Mycology

Dr Michael Weinbren - Royal College of Pathologists

Dr Michael Lockhart - Public Health Scotland

Phil Lewis - Welsh Microbiological Association

Dr Priya Khanna - Royal College of Pathologists

Dr Riina Rautemaa-Richardson - Chair of the UK SMI Bacteriology Working Group

Dr Roger Gibb - Lay representative

Dr Silke Schelenz - UK Clinical Mycology Network

Dr Tessa Lewis - Royal College of General Practitioners

Dr Tim Wyatt - Northern Ireland Public Health Agency

• UK SMI Steering committee membership.pdf

  August 2023

• Terms of reference Steering committee.pdf

  August 2023

• UK SMI Declaration of Interests Jan to Dec 2023.pdf

  March 2024

Working groups

The working groups for UK Standards for Microbiology Investigations (UK SMIs) include:

• Working group for microbiology standards in clinical bacteriology
• Working group for microbiology standards in clinical virology/serology
• Joint working group for the development of syndromic documents

Consultation stages and document markings

Each UK SMI will undergo a public consultation for a minimum of 2 weeks. New UK SMIs generally have two rounds of consultation and previously issued documents tend to have one unless significant changes are made during the development process. 

The ‘Draft’ watermark means that a document is new to the UK SMI repository or is actively undergoing review.

The ‘Under review’ watermark refers to a document that is already in the UK SMI repository but requires a review.

The ‘Under Consultation’ watermark refers to documents which are either draft or under review which are undergoing wide consultation.

Acknowledgments

UK SMIs are developed under the auspices of UKHSA working in partnership with the professional organisations participating in equal partnership and support for the objectives and process of UK SMIs (See Partner oganisations accordion below). UK SMIs are developed, reviewed and revised by various working groups which are overseen by a steering committee (See Steering Committee membership accordion above).

The contributions of many individuals in clinical, specialist and reference laboratories who have provided information and comments during the development of UK SMIs are acknowledged. We are grateful to the medical editors for editing the medical content.

Partner organisations

UK SMIs are developed in equal partnership with UKHSA, the Royal College of Pathologists and professional societies. Inclusion of a logo in a UK SMI indicates participation of the society in equal partnership and support for the objectives and process of preparing UK SMIs. Nominees of professional societies are members of the Steering Committee and Working Groups which develop UK SMIs. The views of nominees cannot be rigorously representative of the members of their nominating organisations nor the corporate views of their organisations. Nominees act as a conduit for 2-way reporting and dialogue. Representative views are sought through the consultation process. UK SMIs are developed, reviewed and updated through a wide consultation process.

Public and patient involvement (PPI)

The standards unit encourages public and patient involvement (PPI) in the development of all UK SMIs.

All PPI activities within the standards unit follow the UKHSA public involvement policy and take place following discussion with the UKHSA public involvement team.

Lay representation for the UK SMI working groups and Steering committee is drawn from the UKHSA Public Involvement team.

Quality assurance and accreditation

NICE has accredited the process of producing UK SMIs used by the UK SMI working groups.

The accreditation applies to all guidance produced since October 2009 using the UK SMI development processes.

Accreditation is valid until 30 June 2026.

The process for developing UK SMIs is also certified to ISO 9001.2015

In using UK SMIs, laboratories should take account of local requirements and undertake additional investigations where appropriate. UK SMIs help laboratories to meet accreditation requirements by promoting high quality practices which are auditable. UK SMIs also provide a reference point for method development.

The performance of UK SMIs depends on competent staff and appropriate quality reagents and equipment. Laboratories must ensure that they have validated all commercial and in-house tests, to ensure the tests are fit for purpose.

Laboratories should participate in external quality assessment schemes and undertake relevant internal quality control procedures.

Implementation tool

UK SMIs are evidence-based standards of practice that are produced in compliance with NICE accreditation requirements. The implementation of UK SMIs should consist of adoption by laboratories of the methods in their entirety and without amendment of the content. Circumstances in which deviation from the UK SMIs may occur are those for which local arrangements and conditions preclude the use of a particular UK SMI as published. In all cases of deviation, laboratories are advised to establish an evidence base for their local practice, including test evaluation as applicable.

Incorporation of the UK SMIs into local laboratory document systems and translation into local style guides is acceptable but attention must be given to effective document control taking account of any future revisions to each UK SMI.

The Standards Unit at UKHSA would welcome any evidence in support of practices that differ from those published.

Laboratories may find the leaflet helpful to implement UK SMIs.