The Transplant Centre of the University Children’s Hospital in Kraków has been the first in Poland to receive the international accreditation from the Joint Accreditation Committee-ISCT & EBMT (JACIE), which certifies the highest standards of quality in transplantation of blood-forming (haematopoietic) stem cells. The centre provides treatment to children suffering from cancer, mainly leukemia, blood diseases, and serious immunological deficiencies.
7 years of preparations and over one thousand requirements that had to be met – these numbers demonstrate the amount of work done by the staff of University Children’s Hospital to make the institution eligible for the accreditation.
JACIE is an international organisation which sets the quality standards in the field of obtaining, processing and transplanting blood-forming stem cells. “JACIE means quality in practice. Our final goal is to ensure the safety of transplant patients and donors”. Yet, the standards do not only concern medical and laboratory procedures, but also infrastructure, staff, documentation and management system, explains Dr Oktawiusz Wiecha, who coordinated the accreditation application process.
It is possible to apply for JACIE accreditation in three areas: collection, processing and placing of the transplant material. The University Children’s Hospital gained all three accreditations.
“This means we meet all rigid safety standards from the moment the patient is admitted to the ward to the long term care after the transplant is performed. We also ensure the safety of donors and the highest standards of transplant material processing. What is most important is that the inspectors have proved that our system of continual quality enhancement actually works,” says Dr hab. Jolanta Goździk, head of University Children’s Hospital Transplant Centre.
The Transplant Centre consists of the Department of Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant, Apheresis Laboratory, Transplant Clinic, and Cell Bank. It has recently undergone a thorough modernisation, which would not be possible without the determination of staff and management, thanks to whose efforts the hospital obtained funding from several different sources.
